Alena

In an inspired restaging of Daphne du Maurier's 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 Nauk's wealthy, enigmatic founder--to whom Alena had been closest confidante and muse--offers the position to an aspiring young curator from the Midwest. It's 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 past--a past obsessively preserved by the museum's staff--and the newcomer's every move mires her more deeply in artistic, erotic, and emotional entanglements. When recently discovered evidence calls into question the circumstances of Alena's death, shattering secrets surface, putting to the test the loyalty, integrity, and courage of our heroine--who remains nameless, like the heroine of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, the inspiration for this provocative and spellbinding tale.

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.