Alena

Praise

“[A] faithful, patient reimagining of Daphne du Maurier’s novel…The writing at times is so fine you wish this weren’t 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 Pastan’s story is that it manages to be more than a companion piece to du Maurier’s. 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

“Provocative and spellbinding…[the] ideal book to enjoy outside on a park bench, at the beach or under the hugging branches of an oak or willow tree.” –Literary New England

“Perfect for curling up with on a winter’s 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 Maurier’s 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 Maurier’s 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 Maurier’s 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 Maurier’s 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