David Roach Pierson describes himself as an amateur baritone who is dedicated to the works of the operetta composer Emmerich Kalman. He is also, he tells us, also devoted to the works of Daphne de Maurier, and wrote this sequel to Rebecca as an act of homage to that accomplished storyteller since he felt the existing sequel by Susan Hill to be inadequate. Alas, despite Mr Piersons' good intentions, his story is flabby and dull, with lashings of B-movie dialogue and indigestible chunks of scene-setting recitative which are more reminiscent of Wagner than Kalman.
A.W.
