Making the Cat Laugh (2004)
“As from yesterday, a surging modern sequel to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca has crashed and boiled by moonlight into the bookshops, and my name – Mrs de Winter – is once again in common parlance, along with Rebecca and Mrs Danvers, and Mad Ben the beachcomber. (‘No shell here,’ nods gap-toothed Ben mysteriously in my dreams at night. ‘Been diggin’ since forenoon. No shell here.’) Ho hum. Crash. Boil. That’s the trouble with being shy and mousy. When you are the sort of nervous person who pushes t...he shards of a broken ornament to the back of a drawer so that the servants don’t find out (‘Oh lord, that’s one of our treasures, isn’t it?’ quips your husband, helpfully), it is natural that people should go right ahead and publish sequels about you, without bothering to ask you first. In my worst moments I think Mrs Danvers was right, I should have chucked myself out of an upstairs window and done everyone a favour. But the trouble with being Rebecca’s nameless heroine is this: supposing Susan Hill had taken me out for a coastal drive and then explained, ‘I’m asking you to be in my new novel, you little fool!’ – well, I would have had no option but to swoon my acceptance, wouldn’t I?MoreLess
Read book Making the Cat Laugh for free
Write Review:
Guest
Read Also
10 / 10
User Reviews: