I just finished My Cousin Rachel and literally burst into tears.
I read Rebecca before this and had to read another one of her books so I chose My Cousin Rachel. It was fine, of course different, but I preferred Rebecca.
I had believed that the truth of what happened to Ambrose and what was happening to Phillip would be somewhere in the middle but I was not expecting to fully believe that Rachel was innocent.
I had begun to distrust Phillip more and more as the story progressed but after he choked her, I was on Rachel’s side. However, I still believed that Rachel started poisoning him only after the choking incident and did the same to Ambrose as she says he also choked her.
It wasn’t until he sends her to her death and Louise reads the book on the seeds that I realized she was innocent. Rachel has said numerous times that the groundskeeper was not as knowledgeable as she was and that Italians had old knowledge of herbs. There are many plants that we ingest that can harm us at the wrong dose but we take them anyways. OR cooking them neutralizes the poison.
If she truly was after his money, she would’ve let him die from Meningitis since she was the only one who knew what it was.
I burst into tears because all these men tried to control her and mold her to be what they wanted and she did not give in. Even Renaldi who was her “friend” was dismissive of her.
The question I kept asking was “What happens when you raise a boy to hate women?” and this is what happens. They kill women.
I love du Maurier and her complicated women. Her and Gillian Flynn are top notch.
by taycibear