I just finished Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman. **SPOILERS**
The book started off OK. In fact, I'd have said it was pretty good at first.
The part of the story told by Col. Julyan and Terrence Gray and
held my interest.
It started to go south for me when it was revealed that Rebecca's mother was a beautiful aristocrat from the same neighborhood was Manderley who had fallen into disgrace. And that never came out at the time?
And it turns out Terrence was Rebecca's much younger half-brother. This is beginning to sound like a soap opera.
Some of the ideas in Ellie's portion of the narrative seem much more 21st century than mid-twentieth century (1951). Her desire to return to college at 31,
her feminist thinking, her acceptance of Terrence being gay--now, there's nothing "wrong" with any of those things, they just don't fit the time period.
And bringing in the second Mrs. de Winter was too much.
My younger sister and I used to say "They wouldn't do that," when watching a movie where the characters did something unbelievable. I have to say "They wouldn't do that," about much of this book too.
