The Finale
June 2024
Happy Valley meets HappyDale
In her search for definitive literary guidance to become the person she longed to be, Rosalyn Lowry could hardly ignore Daphne du Maurier’s
1938 classic novel, Rebecca.
In her early years of marriage and her fateful decision to divorce Myles
and raise her daughter Linda on her own, Rosalyn imitated, or otherwise evoked, attitudes and behaviors of Rosemary Woodhouse, Amanda Wingfield, Joanna Kramer, and Jean Brodie.
But blossoming at Happydale Residential School opened a fresh rift between what others saw as reality and what Linda’s mother fashioned
as her new destiny. Her self-imposed exile was not to be a punishment,
it was by design the creation of a life free and clear of convention and social accountability. It envisioned an Edenic instigation to lure or
seduce other marginalized women along to populate that misandrous realm. One woman was no longer enough to pattern such a dynamic
life upon. So, Roz Young, who initially became Rosalyn Lowery would
now assimilate the feminine trinity of du Maurier’s Manderley:
Rebecca, Mrs. Danvers, and the second Mrs. de Winter.
The Classic 1938 Novel of Discontent, mystery and intrigue
Her Book
Her Book
Her Book
Rebecca
Her Book
Her Book
by Daphne Du Maurier
Rebecca has continued to fascinate readers and filmgoers since its
print debut in 1938. Beginning with Alfred Hitchcock’s theatrical
release two years later and as late a 2020 revival now available on
Netflix, many film directors and producers have attempted to retell
the story cinematically. Most critics feel none have been successful
or faithful to the novel in their adaptations, despite accolades for
specific actors or production features.
Relative to themes this website has addressed in earlier months
concerning book-to-film adaptation, it seems a considerable
difficulty in the conversion of du Maurier’s novel resides in the two
art forms themselves. The most significant example of this genre
clash is that the novel allows for a masterful use of an unspecified
and unnamed narrator, who becomes the second wife of Mr. de Winter. Her particularized appearance and personality are left largely to the novel’s reader to imagine. However, once an actor must be cast and filmed, the power of this dynamic is insurmountably lost. And for this treatment, a 'voice-over only' treatment simply would
not work, as the narrator is an active and interacting character.
The movie house or television viewer never has the chance to
invest in the character as this book’s reader does.
Going back just to the novel, as Rosalyn Lowry does in Custody,
du Maurier provides insights into the workings of the minds and the souls of the personalities in the realm of the manor homestead of the novel, Manderley.
The home and grounds and the adjacent sea themselves are imbued by the author with a powerful place
in the story’s feel for the reader. The family, their household, their visitors and even the deceased first Mrs. de Winter—the titular Rebecca—also can not escape the pull and the influence of Manderley in their lives.
Her Book
The three dwelt-upon women portrayed in the novel are the Head
Housekeeper of Manderley, Mrs. Danvers; her protégé and ward
whom she brings there as a child, Rebecca, whom Maxim de Winter
will marry and later be tricked into murdering; and the unnamed
narrator who will only become known as the second Mrs. de Winter.
Author du Maurier weaves their fates through the weft and warp of
the actions and thoughts of the living Mrs. de Winter and Mrs. Danvers,
intersecting the hauntingly remembered deeds and words of Rebecca.
Custody suggests Rosalyn Lowry’s distraught and fiercely crafted
mental health assimilates these three demi-heroines of Rebecca into a morphing entity of pretended virtue, repressed psycho-sexualized
dominance, and virulent machination—determined to socially debilitate
and spiritually annihilate any, and all, she determines to conquer for
her own selfish ends. It becomes her sad fate to get what she wants in
the end only by burning the effigy of this avatar in much the same way
as her Mrs. Danvers can do nothing in her end than to incinerate all
she ever wanted to control, her cherished Manderley, forever haunted by her beloved Rebecca.
© 2003 Virago Press UK {441 pages)
© 1938 Victor Gollancz UK
My Serialized Novel - Custody
Custody Finale
Installment Eight & Epilog
Installment Eight & Epilog
Installment Eight & Epilog
Installment Eight & Epilog
Installment Eight & Epilog
After my missing of May and a month's delay, the final installment of the eight-part serialization of Custody is now complete and ready for your continued, and conclusive, reading. I certainly hope you find it a rewarding finale to this journey you have been kind enough to undertake with Linda Lowry and her family, friends, and frenemies since October.
As you recall, the book was only being written as the months unfolded. It has been an exciting writing experiment for me and a joy to share with you. Thank you for your patience and support, especially in these last five weeks of writing, editing, and fact-checking for continuity and sequencing of the story.