Synopses & Reviews
In an inspired restaging of Daphne du Mauriers classic Rebecca, a young curator finds herself haunted by the legacy of her predecessor.
Two years have passed since the tragic death of Alena, curator at the Nauk, a cutting-edge art museum on Cape Cod. At the Venice Biennale, Bernard Augustin, the Nauks wealthy, enigmatic founderto whom Alena had been closest confidante and museoffers the position to an aspiring young curator from the Midwest. Its the job of her dreams, and she dives at the chance.
Just as quickly, she finds herself well out of her depth. The Nauk echoes with phantoms of the pasta past obsessively preserved by the museums staffand the newcomers every move mires her more deeply in artistic, erotic, and emotional entanglements. When recently discovered evidence calls into question the circumstances of Alenas death, shattering secrets surface, putting to the test the loyalty, integrity, and courage of our heroinewho remains nameless, like the heroine of Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca, the inspiration for this provocative and spellbinding tale.
Review
Praise for Lady of the Snakes
"Fast-paced, well-written and entertaining." -Publishers Weekly
"A literary mystery crossed with a funny feminist commentary on marriage. Think A. S. Byatt linking arms in sisterhood with chick-lit champs Susan Isaacs and Jennifer Weiner. I was hooked from the opening scene." -Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air
"Pastan's writing is fluid and frank, and her characters are luminescent." -The Washington Post
"Both a clever academic novel and a cunning literary detective story, Lady of the Snakes is perhaps most remarkable in its unflinching and compassionate portrait of its heroine, a young woman struggling to manage the competing demands of marriage, motherhood and career. This is a marvelous, fearless book." -Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier
Praise for This Side of Married
"Rachel Pastan has written a novel about families and falling in love that is at once moving, funny, and true. This Side of Married is a wedding bouquet of great wit and affection." -Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings
"Smart and insightful... an engaging look at the current state of love and courtship." -Booklist
Review
"[A] faithful, patient reimagining of Daphne du Mauriers novel…The writing at times is so fine you wish this werent a retold story…
Alena is… a brilliant take-down of the self-serious art world, rendering it helplessly camp by sprinkling some of its august and/or provocative names….over this…pop-culture totem.” -
New York Times Book Review
“Luminous and sure-footed…The triumph of Pastans story is that it manages to be more than a companion piece to du Mauriers. Alena proves itself an intriguing and substantial novel on its own merits, while still offering the kind of gothic plunge we remember and crave from our younger years.” -The Washington Post
“Perfect for curling up with on a winters night … so eerie and elegantly suspenseful that I could see myself rereading it, the way I reread Rebecca every few years or so.” -Maureen Corrigan, NPR Books
“This artful take on du Mauriers gothic classic Rebecca has its own surprise twists.” -Good Housekeeping
"Pastan is gifted with sentient and lyrical writing, and she paints a scene exactly…For readers who love characterizations and language from fresh sources of inspiration, there is good reason to read this book.” -Washington Independent Review of Books
"Like a good reproduction, Alena preserves important trademarks of the original art — creepy and claustrophobic."
-Entertainment Weekly
"One of the most delicious novels of the year....Alena is the rare book that stimulates the senses while allowing its readers to be seduced by the right kind of camp.. Books rarely are as dishy, clever and elusively charming as this one." -PopMatters
“With her evocative prose, Pastan matches the hothouse tension of Du Mauriers story while infusing “Alena” with its own hairpin twists and turns and devastating denouement… The result is a lyrical murder mystery that is just as tantalizing to those who have never read “Rebecca” as the many for whom it is a cherished classic." -The Brooklyn Eagle
"For people who love Rebecca, there are all kind of allusions and asides—names, locations and plot points. … But Alena stands on its own.” -BookPage
“Pastan builds the tension and mystery with a steady, melancholic tone, entirely gorgeous and entirely her own.” -Bustle
“Fans of Daphne du Mauriers timeless Rebecca will revel in this contemporary homage to her gothic masterpiece.” --Booklist
"Riveting... Flush with erotic intrigues... Pastan has written a smart, chilling thriller that leaves readers thoroughly spooked." -Publishers Weekly
"This skillfully crafted novel, which sustains the tension of a ghost story, is both an homage to Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca and an insightful meditation on our obsessive preoccupation with death—simultaneously creepy and entrancing.” -John Irving
"I was utterly captivated by this novel, as much by the beautifully evoked Cape Cod landscapes and the glimpses into the rarefied world of art as by the increasingly suspenseful mysteries at its center. Rachel Pastan is a marvelous storyteller." -Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier and Swim Back to Me
"In this exquisite reimagining of a much-loved novel, Rachel Pastan weaves together a mystery, a love story, and a meditation on the nature of art." -Brian Morton, author of Starting Out in the Evening
Review
Praise for
Alena
“Luminous and sure-footed…The triumph of Pastans story is that it manages to be more than a companion piece to du Mauriers. Alena proves itself an intriguing and substantial novel on its own merits, while still offering the kind of gothic plunge we remember and crave from our younger years.” —The Washington Post
“Perfect for curling up with on a winters night…so eerie and elegantly suspenseful that I could see myself rereading it, the way I reread Rebecca every few years or so.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR
About the Author
Rachel Pastan is the author of two previous novels and has won numerous prizes for her short fiction. A member of the core faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars, she is also editor-at-large for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. Pastan lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.