Publishing March 2206. Pre-orders https://linktr.ee/TheWomanInTheWater
This novel was inspired by one of literature’s most curious unsolved puzzles: in Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 suspense masterpiece Rebecca, who is the woman buried as Rebecca in the de Winter family crypt? I have read Rebecca many times and always wondered as to the identity of the body taken from the sea that Maxim de Winter claims, two months after her disappearance, is that of his missing wife. This body is then laid to rest in the de Winter family crypt. A year later, Rebecca de Winter’s body is recovered from the cabin of her yacht by divers investigating a wreck nearby. When Rebecca’s body is found, there is no mention of where the misidentified stranger’s disinterred corpse will be moved to. The woman disappears from the narrative, a mystery unsolved.
I found myself thinking often about this poor unclaimed creature and imagining what her story might have been.
Henrietta McKervey 