Jenny's marriage is loveless, and she is having an affair. She works at an old people's home, where she is especially fond of Stella, a woman dying...
read full description
reviews
Dec 30, 2011
Philip
rated it: 
This is one of my very favorite Vines, one I seem drawn to re-read every two or three years - I just re-read it this past January - it "called" to me whilst I was in the midst of reading another book, and I couldn't resist!
As with many Vines, there are parallel stories - Jenny is in the thrall of her first extra-marital affair, when Stella Newland, one of the patients in the nursing home where Jenny works, reveals a secret to Jenny that not even her children know: she owns a More...
As with many Vines, there are parallel stories - Jenny is in the thrall of her first extra-marital affair, when Stella Newland, one of the patients in the nursing home where Jenny works, reveals a secret to Jenny that not even her children know: she owns a More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 01, 2011
Kirsty
rated it: 
This is probably the least mysterious and least psychological story I've read from Vine/Rendell. The action takes place in a small Norfolk village where Jenny Warner is caring for Stella Newlands who is dying of lung cancer in a residential home. It's the kind of gradually unfolding story that Vine is good at where you aren't quite sure what the real mystery is going to turn out to be. Only in this case I didn't think that there was really anything discovered that was worth the build up.
More...
More...
Jun 10, 2011
Nick
rated it: 
What makes ordinary people do creepy, psychologically disturbing things, and then retreat to a life of the ordinary, covering up the events of their past?
Jenny works at a retirement home and becomes close to Stella, one of the patients. They both have their secrets, and this brings them closer as they reveal to the other. Jenny is just beginning her secret life, but dreams of being close to the unordinary, in touch with superstition and the macabre. In the unfolding events of the sto More...
Jenny works at a retirement home and becomes close to Stella, one of the patients. They both have their secrets, and this brings them closer as they reveal to the other. Jenny is just beginning her secret life, but dreams of being close to the unordinary, in touch with superstition and the macabre. In the unfolding events of the sto More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 21, 2008
Bea
rated it:
Barbara Vine is Ruth Rendell's nom de plume for her series of "psychological" suspense novels, differentiated from her crime mysteries. Every time I pick up a book written by Ruth Rendell, I am astounded all over again by her powers of imagination. Every book of hers is quite different, the plots are ingenious and brand new, and the characters finely drawn. Rendell skilfully plumbs the depths of the mental influences within her characters, leading them to enact both evil and good.
More...
Mar 21, 2011
Toni
rated it:
I find as I read more of Rendell’s “Vine” thrillers the more I like them. This one is one of my favorites. The only one I could not get into was The House of Stairs, which I will try again someday. I found this book a little slow in parts but did not mind because I knew there was something, that when revealed, would make it worthwhile. Probably because of the way I read, each word, I was able to figure out the mystery of Gilda’s disappearance but there was still one thing I had not anticipat
More...
Jul 29, 2011
Jayne
rated it:
I read on the back of Barbara Vine's books (Grasshopper I think it was) that she 'writes very well about young people'. I thought they had that the wrong way round - I'd say she writes very well about old people. Both in this and in Asta's Book she creates very credible, interesting elderly characters. This has two stories - Stella, the old lady in a nursing home and what happened to her in her youth, and the story of Jenny who works in the nursing home, unravels the mystery, and has an affair w
More...
Aug 31, 2009
Maria João
rated it: 
Mais uma vez Barbara Vine não se desvia do dicotomia mulher/amor que lhe é tão característica. Tal como Nicolas Sparks, o enredo tem como personagens principais mulheres cujos dilemas giram em torno de amores e desamores, e que, ao longo do livro, analisam, dissertam e esmiuçam as suas problemáticas de todos os ângulos possíveis. Nada de original é então adicionado ao mundo de Barbara Vine que encaixa sempre no cliché feminino de sobreanalisar as relações amorosas, do "pensar de mais"
More...
Dec 07, 2010
Maria
rated it:
This is a new author for me and I'm torn between a 2 and 3 as a rating. It's a charming mystery that will appeal to anglophiles & I foresee an addiction to Rendell shortly despite the rating. I won't classify this as a "beach" read, as this author is so highly enjoyable & readable & perceptive it seems to be more than that. She knows human nature, all right. I see a few similarities with Iris Murdoch who was, I vaguely recall, darker.
2 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 14, 2008
hmmm...according to the quote from the Chicago Tribune this is her best book ever...an amazing accomplishment. Actually, it's not. Her Inspector Wexford mysteries(as Ruth Rendell) are much better and while our protagonist, the superstitious Jenny, is engaging this just drug on and on for me. A bit better than average because the characters are finely drawn but when the denoument arrives it just fell flat for me.
Nov 05, 2009
Hazel
rated it:
This was reported as dealing with Alzheimer's - that's why I bought it. It doesn't. It's about an elderly lady in residential care who harbours a terrible secret. Coming from Ruth Rendell I expected something different but I liked the slow unravelling of the story. I didn't like the mirroring of Stella and Genevieve's complicated love-lives.
Jan 26, 2012
Vicky
rated it:
It could be a very good book if it was a little shorter. The story was never ending. The intensity of events, the choices, the tragedy behind the consequences - all of it kept me reading, hoping that the end is near. But the drama was going on and on. Here is a book about how ordinary people can do evil things. It is as old as the human history. This book does not lift you spirit, but in a very special way describes a pain of the wrong choice.
Sep 01, 2011
Nina
rated it:
Deeply revealing and personal. Totally absorbing.
Favourite quotes:
'Love is a frightening thing. I realise that I'm frightened so much of the time, afraid of losing him, afarid of discovery...infear of not being his equal, of not matching up to what he wants, of him changing because he is disillusioned'. p.185
Favourite quotes:
'Love is a frightening thing. I realise that I'm frightened so much of the time, afraid of losing him, afarid of discovery...infear of not being his equal, of not matching up to what he wants, of him changing because he is disillusioned'. p.185
Feb 08, 2012
Sarah
rated it:
This book i is not as strong as some of Vine's other books. The writing is good, the characters are strong, the plot a bit too much to believe.
Sorry this review is short, but I am a mom with three,(yes three)boys and I don't have too much time on my hands anymore.
Sorry this review is short, but I am a mom with three,(yes three)boys and I don't have too much time on my hands anymore.
Aug 06, 2009
Mimi
rated it:
Although I got impatient with the slow gothiness of this, especially toward the end (just explain the Big Bad Thing already!), it was atmospheric and well done. The first Rendell/Vine I've ever read, and I'll probably look for more when I'm in a suspenseful mood.
Aug 24, 2009
Leslie
rated it:
This really earns 4.5 stars. It would have been 5 for Vine's great writing and interesting characters and my ability to totally immerse myself in the story, but it took just a little too long to get to the "big secret," to the point that it slowed down the story for me.
Dec 11, 2010
Rhonda
rated it:
I found The Brimstone Wedding to be a very slow read and difficult for me to get into. The storyline was not clear at the beginning which did add an air of mystique but the story in whole was slow moving.
Nov 01, 2010
Margaret
rated it:
This turned out to be a Vine that worked for me quite well (unlike The Birthday Present: A Novel, which I'd just read). Jenny Warner is a caregiver at a retirement home, where she comes to know Stella Newland, who is dying of lung cancer. Stella has long held on to secrets about her life, which she eventually reveals to Jenny, secrets which resonate with Jenny's own life. Vine intertwines her narrative threads masterfully, slowly uncovering the truth behind Stella's past and Jenny's present and
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 19, 2009
Chris
rated it:
The main problem with the book is that it drags just a little. That said, it is still a pretty interesting book. The story is compelling and the characters are likable.
Nov 06, 2008
Janice
rated it:
A caregiver in a nursing home becomes the confidante of a dying woman whose been keeping a secret.
Long a fan of Ruth Rendell, I recently started reading the books she's written as Barbara Vine. They're not mysteries, exactly, nor are they are psychological thrillers (like her non-Wexford books), but they deal with buried pasts that come to light slowly and in minutely revealing detail. They're rich, good reads that develop at a leisurely pace. This one, though, I found a little less More...
Long a fan of Ruth Rendell, I recently started reading the books she's written as Barbara Vine. They're not mysteries, exactly, nor are they are psychological thrillers (like her non-Wexford books), but they deal with buried pasts that come to light slowly and in minutely revealing detail. They're rich, good reads that develop at a leisurely pace. This one, though, I found a little less More...
Dec 31, 2009
Anne
rated it:
I loved this book. A bit meandering and over-descriptive in some places, but good. I would have given it five stars, but the last 100 pages of the book should have been cut down to maybe 50. Otherwise, very good read.
Feb 08, 2009
Lynn Kay
rated it:
Ruth Rendell as the author Barbara Vine. One of the best books I have ever read, certainly my favorite by Ruth Rendell
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 16, 2011
Joni
rated it:
Classic Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell (they are the same person, after all). Failing relationships, betrayal, murder.
Feb 16, 2010
Dawn
rated it:
Fantastic! Have read this at least three times. Great at exploring the relationships between different generations.
Sep 09, 2010
Arlene
rated it:
An unusual psychological mystery with only one distant death that may have been a murder.
May 01, 2011
Sergey
rated it:
There is magic that beckons this novel to keep going, to wrap its cloak on the mind and let imagination loose on a ride. I was saddened to have it end.
Feb 14, 2011
Elaine
rated it:
From what I can recall, this book started off very strong, but did not continue in that way. Not one of my favorite Barbara Vine's(pen name of Ruth Rendell). Would recommend A Fatal Inversion or Gallowglass instead.
