My Cousin Rachel - Softcover

Daphne Du Maurier

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1512102970 ISBN 13: 9781512102970

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

Ambrose Ashley is the owner of a large country estate on the Cornish coast and has been guardian to his orphaned cousin Philip since he was three years old. On Sundays, Philip's godfather, Nick Kendall, and his daughter Louise come to lunch with them, as do the Reverend Pascoe and his family. Life is good apart from a few health problems that require Ambrose to spend the winter in warmer climates. As the damp weather approaches, he sets off for his third winter abroad and chooses Italy. By the time he has reached his twenties, Philip misses Ambrose on his sojourns in Italy but regularly receives letters from him. Ambrose writes that he has met a cousin of theirs called Rachel - the widowed Contessa Sangalletti - in Florence. In the spring, Ambrose says that he and Rachel are married and have no immediate plans to return to Cornwall. Gradually, the tone of Ambrose's correspondence changes. He complains of the sun, the stuffy atmosphere of the villa Sangalletti, and terrible headaches. In a letter that reaches Philip in July, Ambrose says that a friend of Rachel's called Rainaldi has recommended that Ambrose see a different doctor. Ambrose says he can trust no one and claims that Rachel watches him constantly. Philip discusses the contents of the letter with his godfather Nick, who is his guardian until his coming of age at 25. Nick suggests that Ambrose may be suffering from a brain tumour. Philip travels to Italy and reaches the villa Sangalletti, where he learns that Ambrose is dead and that Rachel has left the villa. When Philip returns to Cornwall, Nick tells Philip that he has received a communication from Rainaldi, containing two pieces of information: the death certificate confirms that Ambrose's cause of death was a brain tumour, and, as Ambrose had never changed his will in Rachel's favour, Philip is still heir to the estate. Two weeks later, Nick receives word from Rachel, saying that she has arrived by boat at Plymouth. Philip invites her to stay with him, and a harmony develops between them. One day, a tenant from East Lodge gives Philip a letter from Ambrose, written three months before his death. In it, Ambrose tells Philip about his illness and talks of Rachel's recklessness with money and her habit of turning to Rainaldi rather than himself. Finally, he wonders if they are trying to poison him, and he asks Philip to come to see him. Rachel later shows Philip an unsigned will that Ambrose wrote in which he leaves his property to Rachel. Philip begins to trust Rachel again. On the day before Philip's 25th birthday, he prepares to transfer Ambrose's estate to Rachel. He also gives her the family jewels, and they make love. The next day, Philip announces that he and Rachel are getting married, but she denies this in front of friends. Not long afterward, Philip falls ill for many weeks, during which Rachel nurses him. When he is well enough to go outside, he finds that the terraced gardens are complete and that work has begun on a sunken garden. The foreman tells Philip that the bridge over the garden is a framework and will not bear any weight. Philip suspects that Rachel tried to poison him and, with Louise's help, searches her room. They find nothing to incriminate Rachel and wonder if they are misjudging her. Meanwhile, Rachel has walked to the terraced garden and stepped onto the bridge over the sunken garden. Philip finds her broken body lying amongst the timber and stone. He takes her in his arms, and she looks at him, calling him Ambrose before she dies. The book's title reflects Philip's consistent references to Rachel as "my cousin Rachel" up to the moment he realises that he is in love with her.

About this title

From the Publisher:

My Cousin Rachel is the gripping story of a Victorian young man whose placid life in the English countryside is turned inside-out by an older woman. The young man is Philip Ashley, the novel¹s narrator. Orphaned at an early age, he¹s been raised by his bachelor uncle Ambrose, who falls in love and marries while traveling in Florence, then dies there in suspicious circumstances. Shortly after her husband¹s death, Ambrose¹s widow turns up in England, setting the stage for the unfolding of a relationship between the callow Philip and the beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious widow. And while Philip impetuously embraces the role of the moth flapping full-tilt toward the flame, the widow never puts a foot wrong. Is she designedly luring Philip to his doom? Might she even have had a hand in Ambrose¹s death? Originally published in 1951, My Cousin Rachel was made into a film in 1953.

About the Author:

Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) was born in London, the daughter of the famous actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of George du Maurier, the author and artist. In 1931 her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published. A biography of her father and three other novels followed, but it was the novel Rebecca that launched her into the literary stratosphere and made her one of the most popular authors of her day. In 1932, du Maurier married Major Frederick Browning, with whom she had three children.Many of du Maurier's bestselling novels and short stories were adapted into award-winning films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now. In 1969 du Maurier was awarded a DBE. She lived most of her life in Cornwall, the setting for many of her books.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1512102970
• ISBN 13: 9781512102970
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 86