The
Fiction Writer by Jullian Cantor 304 pages
Sometimes
you just shouldn’t mess with the original. Olivia Fitzgerald’s first novel was
a massive success. Her second, a retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca,” (titled
“Becky”) was not. It flopped. Big time. “Last night I dreamt I went to Malibu
again” just doesn’t have the same sinister overtones as the original sentence,
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
When
I read author Cantor’s first line, I almost put it down. Then I remembered that
this story is about a contemporary re-telling, and a re-telling itself, of du
Maurier’s classic novel. With that in mind, I plunged ahead.
Olivia’s
having a bad year. “Becky” was a disaster, her boyfriend of nine years dumped
her, and she has no clue what her next book will be about, if anything. Even
her agent doesn’t want to talk with her. But he does call with a lucrative
ghost-writing offer.
“Henry
‘Ash’ Asherwood, a reclusive mega billionaire, twice named People’s Sexiest Man Alive,” wants to hire
her, for $50,000, to ghost-write a book for him. He simply adored “Becky.
It seems, according to Ash, that there is a connection between du Maurier and
his grandmother and a salacious claim. He insists that Daphne stole his
grandmother’s manuscript and published it, the manuscript that became known as
“Rebecca.”
At
first, Olivia doesn’t want the gig, but her curiosity gets the best of her, and
she hops on a plane for California. When she arrives in the land of the rich, famous,
and beautiful, she is treated like royalty, but Ash never seems to want to get
to work on the book. First, he claims the story and proof are in his
grandmother’s journals, which he has sent out to be translated from their
original French.
That
is the first lie that Ash tells her about the journals. Again, Olivia’s
curiosity gets the best of her, and she starts researching Ash’s grandmother
and wives. She cannot find a trace of them anywhere online.
Sometimes
it is hard to keep up with what is happening, and the people in Ash’s life. The
housekeeper was also a bridesmaid from his marriage to Angelica; the discovery
of Rose, the third Mrs. Ashwood; the fire at Malibu Lake, eerily reminiscent of
the fire at Manderley. And much more.
Taut,
tense, and creepy, “The Fiction Writer” is a perfect read for a stormy
afternoon. The Fiction Writer gets
5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
