The Winters

August 1, 2018
With his first wife, Rebekah, dead, Max Winter brings another young woman to Asherley."Last night Rebekah tried to murder me again." With that close echo of one of the most famous opening lines in literature, Gabriele (The Almost Archer Sisters, 2008) pulls back the curtain on her update of Daphne Du Maurier's 1938 classic, Rebecca. Manderley in Cornwall becomes an opulent estate called Asherley, on Long Island; the nameless heroine's nemesis is not a resentful housekeeper named Mrs. Danvers but a prospective 15-year-old stepdaughter named Dani; Rebekah has died in a fiery car crash rather than by drowning. But water remains an important factor. When she first meets millionaire New York State senator Max Winter, our orphaned, naïve, and hardworking heroine is living on Grand Cayman, where she is employed by "one of the richest women in the Caribbean," the owner of boat charter companies all over the islands. Some of the more amusing lines in the book are the narrator's representation of her boss's Australian accent: "Oym an idiot for baying sore ginerous. Oy aughta foyer you both." Though celebrity client Max Winter is old enough to be the narrator's father and she believes herself hopelessly plain and uninteresting, the two are launched almost instantly into a smokin' hot affair that soon enough leads to a diamond ring and a return to Asherley. There, she must contend with the specter of Rebekah, the woman who nabbed Max the first time around and who has left behind her unbelievably bitchy and precocious daughter. Dani texts her father as soon as she gets word of the new relationship: if you bring ur fucking fling home daddy ill kill myself. Just wait till you get a load of the kid's 31,000 follower Instagram account.A harmless parlor game of a book but a little lacking in the skin-crawling suspense department.

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August 13, 2018
When Max Winter, a New York state senator, comes into the life of the insecure 26-year-old unnamed narrator of this creepy, atmospheric homage to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca from Gabriele (The Almost Archer Sisters), she’s working at a boat charter in the Caymans. After only a month, they’re engaged and heading off to Asherley, Max’s secluded Long Island estate, where his 15-year-old daughter, Dani, awaits. Dani has always been difficult, but the death of her mother, Rebekah, in a fiery car crash a year and a half earlier, has brought her to the edge, and she has no interest in her father’s new fiancée, who adores Max and is eager to forge a relationship with Dani. The diabolical Dani has other ideas. Faced with Max’s frequent absences, the narrator feels alienated at Asherley, which seems to be infused with the very essence of its former mistress, yet she seems to be making progress with Dani. However, on their explosive wedding day, the new Mrs. Winter realizes she never truly knew her husband at all. Gabriele keeps the tension high up to the surprising and satisfying final twist. Du Maurier fans will be pleased. Agent: Christy Fletcher, Fletcher & Co.

October 1, 2018

Gabriele (The Almost Archer Sisters) torques and knots Daphne du Maurier's gothic tale Rebecca into modern, compelling, readable domestic suspense. As in du Maurier's classic, the naïve orphaned narrator is never named, but this update gives her more agency throughout the story. Working for a tourist boat operator in the Caymans, she meets the dashing and fabulously wealthy widower Max Winter, who has come to the islands to unwind and ease the grief of wife Rebekah's tragic death. After a whirlwind, mostly maritime courtship, the older Max asks our young heroine to return with him to Asherly, his isolated estate on Long Island. It's a dream come true, except Max's wild 15-year-old daughter Dani is a nightmare for her father's new fiancée and Rebekah seems to haunt every corner of Asherly. Allegiances and perceptions shift constantly in this novel. Gabriele skillfully modernizes the story and conveys a young woman's dawning awareness of her own power. VERDICT Fans of du Maurier's book or the 1940 Hitchcock film will admire how Gabriele plays with the elements, but anyone who appreciates solid, twisty, "whom can I trust" narratives and female empowerment stories can enjoy. [See Prepub Alert, 4/9/18.]--Liz French, Library Journal

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2018
Last night Rebekah tried to murder me again. So begins Gabriele's (The Almost Archer Sisters?, 2008) haunting reimagining of Daphne Du Maurier's original thriller, Rebecca (1938). In this version, an orphaned young woman begins a passionate affair with Max Winter, a widowed, wealthy New York politician. After a whirlwind romance, Max proposes marriage and invites her to move to his Long Island mansion, Asherley. She agrees and is thrust from a life of servitude into a world of wealth, glamour, and loneliness, as Max is often away, leaving her to roam the halls of Asherley and obsess over his first wife, the beautiful, tragic Rebekah. There is also Dani Winter, Max and Rebekah's tortured teenage daughter, who seems set on making her future stepmother miserable. As the narrator plans her wedding, secrets, questions, and threats begin to hint at the past, ultimately revealing the truth about the Winters. This retelling, updated with Instagram stalking and magazine photo shoots, retains the allure and gothic tone of the original, while remaining a page-turner for newcomers to the story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)