A Dark Adapted Eye ~ Barbara Vine

This month’s Caffeine and Chapters Book Club read is an Edgar Award Winning Novel.  Having never read any books from the list of winners I realised this was a genre I probably hadn’t tapped into.  I liked the sound of this title over all the others on the list and so I downloaded it as an audio book.

I didn’t realise that Barbara Vine was the nom de plume of Ruth Rendell’s.  I had recently read The Killing Doll by Rendell and thoroughly enjoyed her characterisations and the dark nature of the novel, so once I realised who had written this book I was quietly pleased about my choice.

What a great story it is.  It is the tale of a family with dark secrets and the secrets are slowly unraveled by Faith, the niece of the main character Vera, after she is approached by a true crime writer who wants to write about Vera’s life.  The title of the novel relates to the opening of Faith’s eyes to events in her family and seeing them with an adult’s new perspective.

The novel opens with Vera’s execution and Faith mentions just about all the main characters without us knowing who they are and how they will relate to the story.  As the novel progresses some of these characters and their relationships are a revelation.

In short Faith’s father has two sisters – Vera and Eden.  He places these two women on a pedestal as paragon’s of virtue and Faith finds it very hard to live up to their standards only to find that they were not very virtuous at all as she pieces together their past.  Vera is much older than Eden and pushes her son away in favour of raising Eden when their parents die.  Faith often stays with them on holidays only to find them whispering and keeping secrets and making her feel very uncomfortable a lot of the time.  Vera’s son is very scornful and cruel to her but Eden appears to counter his presence with beauty and a strong love for her sister Vera.

Things take a turn when Faith’s family are told that Vera is expecting.  She is a much older lady and with her husband away (this is set during the 2nd World War) they can do the math.  They don’t receive much communication whilst she is pregnant but are relieved when they are told eventually by Eden that she has delivered a healthy baby boy – Jamie.

Vera is completely devoted to Jamie, but when she falls very ill she is devastated by the fact that Eden has taken him to live with her and her new very wealthy husband.  Eden has been trying for a child of her own, but a miscarriage and subsequent problems mean that she can no longer have a baby.  What ensues is a very bitter custody battle to try and bring Jamie back home to Vera, which culminates in murder and Vera’s execution.

What I loved about this novel were the insights by Faith describing the time she spent with the two women.  What seems innocuous at first becomes darker when viewed in light of the later events.  The characterisations are absolutely brilliant and their history quite complex.  What we have here is a mystery story, but we are still left with a mystery at the end of it – well two actually.  Who was Jamie’s father and who is actually Jamie’s mother?

This is a fantastic read and Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell will be on my reading list for the rest of this year.  With Rendell’s passing a few days ago I can see there are a lot of novels I need to catch up on.

Maxine

From Doon With Death (Inspector Wexford) ~ Ruth Rendell

There is nothing extraordinary about Margaret Parsons, a timid housewife in the quiet town of Kingsmarkham, a woman devoted to her garden, her kitchen, her husband. Except that Margaret Parsons is dead... Who would kill someone with nothing to hide? Inspector Wexford, the formidable chief of police, is baffled - until he discovers Margaret's dark secret: a trove of rare books, each volume inscribed by a passionate lover identified only as Doon... the case builds with relentless momentum to a shocking finale as clever as it is unexpected. New York Times Book Review: "You cannot afford to miss Ruth Rendell."

Review from the Internet

Read by Robyn S.

The Crocodile Bird ~ Ruth Rendell

'A mother and a daughter live quietly in the rustic gatehouse of Shrove House, an isolated British estate. Their life seems perfectly ordinary except that daughter Liza has been kept isolated from the outside world for all of her sixteen years. And that she has seen her beautiful mother commit murder... more than once. 

Now, as the police come searching for a missing man, Liza's sheltered, strange world begins to fall apart. Piece by piece she will reveal her mother's tale of betrayal, desire, and obsession. Step-by-step we discover how much like mother, like daughter she is.'

Review from the Internet

Read by Robyn S.

Tigerlily's Orchids ~ Ruth Rendell

'From the incomparable, award-winning Ruth Rendell — "the grand dame of British crime fiction" (The Gazette) —comes her latest psychological thriller.

When Stuart Font decides to throw a house-warming party in his new flat he invites everyone in his building. The party will be one everyone remembers. But not for the right reasons....

Living opposite, in reclusive isolation, is a young, beautiful Asian woman, christened Tigerlily by Stuart. As though from some strange urban fairytale, she emerges to exert a terrible spell on the occupants of Lichfield House.'

Review from the Internet

Read by Robyn S.

The St Zita Society ~ Ruth Rendell

"Life for the residents and servants of Hexam Place appears placid and orderly on the outside: drivers take their employers to and from work, dogs are walked, flowers are planted in gardens, and Christmas candles lit uniformly in windows. But beneath this tranquil veneer, the upstairs-downstairs relationships are set to combust.

Henry, the handsome valet to Lord Studley, is sleeping with both the Lord's wife and his university-age daughter. Montserrat, the Still family's lazy au pair, assists Mrs. Still in keeping secret her illicit affair with a television actor in exchange for pocket cash. June, the haughty housekeeper to a princess of dubious origin, tries to enlist her fellow house-helpers into a 'society' to address complaints about their employers. Meanwhile, Dex, the disturbed gardener to several families on the block, thinks a voice on his cell phone is giving him godlike instructions, commands that could imperil the lives of all those in Hexam Place."

Review from the internet.

Read by Robyn S.