Today's Read: The Winters by Lisa Gabriele

Imagine falling madly in love with a very rich older man who was ready and willing to marry you. What would you do when your heady, joyful, breathless romance is visited by your soon-to-be husband's dead first wife and is slowly being poisoned by your new evil stepdaughter? These are the makings of a new retelling of Rebecca, set in Asherley, an isolated estate on Long Island in modern times.

Here's how the story starts:

Last night Rebekah tried to murder me again. It had been a while since I'd had that dream, not since we left Asherley, a place I called home for one winter and the bitterest part of spring, the dream only ever recurring when Max was gone and I'd find myself alone with Dani.

—The Winters by Lisa Gabriele Way (Viking, October 16; page 1)

Quick Facts

• Setting: modern times, mostly Long Island
• Circumstances: New York senator Max Winter vacations in the Caymans where he meets a much younger and orphaned woman who is working at the foremost boat charter company of the islands. They have a hot romance, and before the vacation is over Max has proposed, and his unanamed fiancée moves into his luxurious estate on Long Island. She, understandably, feels out of her league; can't keep up with American politics; and is overshadowed by the many reminders of the first Mrs. Winters, Rebekah, who died in a terrible accident only 18 months earlier. Meanwhile, she has to cope with Max's many absences, which are made worse because his teenage daughter, Dani, is on a mission to derail her father's remarriage.
• Genre: psychological thriller, Gothic mystery, classic retelling
• Themes: secrets, lies, second marriages, crossing socioeconomic lines
• Why I want to read this book: I really loved Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, and I almost always love retellings of the classics. This one has been getting pretty good reviews, so my expectations are high.
• More about the book and the author: The publisher has a good interview with Lisa Gabrielle, in which the author talks about her inspirations, the setting, politics, and her background. The Author Stories podcast has an informative interview as well. If you're in a book club, don't miss the reader's guide to The Winters.
• Acknowledgments: thanks to Viking for a finished copy of Lisa Gabriele's The Winters.