The Chimney Sweeper's Boy

by Barbara Vine, Ruth Rendell

This is the story of best-selling novelist Gerald Candless, whose sudden death from a heart attack leaves behind a wife and two doting daughters. To sort through her grief, one of his daughters, Sarah, decides to write a biography of her internationally celebrated father. Within hours of beginning her research, Sarah comes across the first of what will be many shocking revelations. As her life is slowly torn apart, a terrible logic finally emerges to explain her mother's remoteness, her father's need to continually reinvent himself in his work, and a long-forgotten London murder.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, British Literature, Audiobook

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Pseudonym of Ruth Rendell.

Rendell created a third strand of writing with the publication of A Dark Adapted Eye under her pseudonym Barbara Vine in 1986. Books such as King Solomon's Carpet, A Fatal Inversion and Anna's Book (original UK title Asta's Book) inhabit the same territory as her psychological crime novels while they further develop themes of family misunderstandings and the side effects of secrets kept and crimes done. Rendell is famous for her elegant prose and sharp insights into the human mind, as well as her ability to create cogent plots and characters. Rendell has also injected the social changes of the last 40 years into her work, bringing awareness to such issues as domestic violence and the change in the status of women.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Barbara Vine novel has a couple of themes under an umbrella of general family dysfunction. It works pretty well but gets a little lost towards the end, where one is supposed to be getting the “why.”

A noted author with a distinctly cold attitude towards his wife and an overly loving attitude towards his two daughters, dies early in the story. One daughter takes on the job of writing a biography of her father. It becomes apparent he was not who he claimed to be in any respect. The mystery of “who” is unraveled but “why”is left until the end.

Vine wrote her book before the boom in Ancestry.com type services and it is very interesting to watch all the slow reveals. It’s always good to go into a search knowing you might find out more than you bargained for. The reader gets the full story; the family never learns “why.”

[Carol · Rating 1 out of 5]

The surprise ending, or what Vine seems to have intended to be a surprise ending, is patently obvious even from glancing over the summary on the dust jacket. And, geez, will you ever have a trip in front of you if you decide to take the long road to getting there. This book plodded on and on and on.

Vine's prose offers no whimsy or originality; it's pretty much four hundred pages of simple declarative sentences. There is very little dialogue, and what little of it exists is scripted entirely by the plot and subplot, and totally forgettable. The build-up to the ending is a chore, and the 'dramatic reveal' comes about all at once in the last few pages, with little warning and no denouement to speak of. You could effectively read the last five pages and then throw this book aside, and you would have missed very little in so doing.

Although, I did like Ursula, I can't for the life of me understand why she hung around with this bore and jerk of a husband for more than a year or two. The two daughters were boring as well as being a couple of daddy-girl brats who treated their long suffering mother with disdain. Since Ursula was the only likable character in the book, that was just icky.

To put it bluntly, this is a mystery without mystery, a thriller without thrills.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge Ruth Rendell fan, and I love her Barbara Vine persona novels the best.

This one is classic Barbara Vine. You know the "mystery" right away. It's the way the mystery is solved and how the story unfolds that's intriguing. You can see it coming about 100 pages from the end, but the way she hooks you in is by making you want to know the exquisite details of the story. The details aren't just technical things like guns, alibis, idiotic and awkward explanations, and the rest that normal "mysteries" are teeming with.

Because of this, Rendell/Vine is at the top of her craft, and it is because of people like her, and P.D. James, Henning Mankel, and others, that I can't read schlock mysteries or ho-hum mystery writers. (I'll refrain from naming names, although I'm tempted.)

The theme is also compelling; you understand it from page one, but it's got its own terrific complexity.

Wonderful book; highly recommended.

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long plodding family saga rather then a crime and thriller (I thought)

A clever plot that basically reminds us that we never really, truly know our parents! The book though sadly is filled with highly unlikeable characters and this for me made it a really unengaging read.

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished 11th February 2009
This was a strange book. Hard to put down. I did not find a single character that I could feel true sympathy with, Gerald was arrogant and domineering. I wanted to shake Ursula for being so submissive and accepting of his mental abuse. The daughters were spoilt and immature. What a family but a good read and I was intrigued to find what his secret was at the very end of the book! I can't see why the events would cause Gerald to become so unloving and hard, can someone change so much so suddenly?

[Barb H · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a pleasure to discover Barbara Vine's gifted narrative on the pages of this book. It was no "standard", typical plot mystery. This complex tale is certainly character driven- and what an interesting lot these people are! Although it is not a small novel, it was compelling enough to cause me to yearn to continue my reading when occupied elsewhere. Vine was able to maintain the tension until the very last sentence on the last page! I shall certainly pursue more books by this author!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book. At times I felt it dragged on just a little bit.

I found myself feeling irritated by the two very selfish daughters who treat their mother like she doesn't exist, and I'm bothered that by the end of the book, they STILL don't realize what their mother went through. I would have liked to see some resolution. I would have liked to have an actual ending to the story. It seems as though the story ends before there is any closure for any of the characters. I wanted to see how they would react to the news.

I grew to very much dislike the character of Gerald Candless also. I feel like he was so selfish and arrogant, and just plain ignorant. The way he removes his wife from his daughter's lives is disgusting. By the time I got to the end of the book, I felt like what happened to make him the way he was wasn't enough. It was disturbing, yes, but not enough to condemn an innocent person to a life without love or even consideration.

The story flowed smoothly and the writing style was enjoyable. I like to give it 3.5 stars if I could.

[Mardi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barbara Vine is the pseudonym for Ruth Rendell. I had never read any of Rendell’s work and this book hasn’t encouraged me to read more. It’s an average story, a bit predictable, not strong characters and possibly not my choice of genre. aka Gerald Candless is a writer, has 2 daughters Sarah & Hope, and their mother Ursula. The family and marriage is quite dysfunctional and there are enough secrets to feed this haphazard family. 2/5

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barbara Vine is rising to the top of my favorite authors list. Her psychological suspense novels are all so individual, so very well written with wonderfully developed characters that I want to know more about....after the novel has ended. This novel is no exception.

The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is peopled by an odd assortment of characters whose histories are the fabric of the novel. It's not a standard mystery, not a standard type plot, but you'll find yourself compulsively reading to find out how it ends. Vine really is a master at grabbing the reader and not letting go.

Highly recommended to those who enjoy character driven narratives with suspense.

[Karen Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having never read a Barbara Vine before, but being recommended this book specifically and by someone whose judgement I value, I looked forward to starting it and I wasn't disappointed. The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is an extraordinary, character driven book that tells the story of the Candless family following the death of the patriarch, the famous novelist, Gerard Candless. The hugely successful Candless leaves behind a remote and unhappy wife, Ursula, and two utterly bereft daughters, Sarah and Hope, who simply adored the talented and larger than life man, with a powerful personality, who was their father. But when Sarah is commissioned to write a memoir of growing up with such a literary celebrity as a parent, she uncovers her father's desperate secret, a secret that caused him, many years earlier, to erase his past and identity and create a new one.
The way this story unfolds is precise and irresistible. The main characters, especially the spoiled and completely indulged daughters, is sympathetic to people who, in other spaces and places, might even be abhorrent. It's testimony to Vine's power as a writer that we, the readers, nonetheless invest in them and care about the ways the mysterious past of Gerard Candless, and his many secrets, infect the present and who and what his family have become.
The novel is also, in many ways, a book about the writing process: about choices, processes, about the dreadful liberties some writers will take and the haughty presumption that all encounters, including with those who share your life, are potential literary fodder. It is also about the power of words (as much as actions), to wound, betray, conceal and, possibly, heal.
I found this an astounding book. It will resonate with me for a long time.

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read this before some years ago but somehow it ended up on my to be read shelf once again. Following one of bookcrossings "theme of the month" threads, Jan was jobs and careers, I picked this one up and read it again.
I did not remember most of it, although it had left me with some impressions that I would only recognize had become part of my thoughts when I read those parts this second time around. It is a very unhappy book for nearly every character, if you are looking for happy endings don't look here.
Gerald Candless, famous author, passes away and his oldest daughter decides she will write a memoir of her father. What she discovers is that his identity is false, he is not the man she thought he was, who is he? who are she and her sister if their father is not who he said he was?
Like all Ruth Rendell's written as Barbara Vine books this one is dark, compelling, well-written. It is powerful but ugly and left me feeling a little emotionally ill.

[Ahtims · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a good, though slow to medium paced read.
Gerald Candless, a semi reclusive author who lives in a cliff top house near the misty sea coast of Devon dies of a cardiac arrest. His doting daughters are asked by His publisher to write his biography, and the elder one agrees. This decision opens up a Pandora's box and she finds that everything was a lie.
The ever suffering neglected wife and mother ekes out a life for herself and the daughters try to deal with their own demons as best as they could.
I absolutely loved the surroundings, the slow revealing of secrets, and overall the character development.
Reminisced a bit about leading a reclusive life with all comforts, and never having to go out o work for a living.

[Bruno Bouchet · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable unchallenging read but definitely not "one of the finest, most accomplished and chilling tales of psychological suspense ever written" as claimed on the cover. There was no suspense. A daughter discovers the truth about her father's false life after he dies while her mother enjoys the freedom of life without him. It is a good read, the wife of the author's blossoming is great but it wasn't chilling and there was no real suspense. The conclusion was pretty obvious from half way through. I don't think it was even meant to be chilling and suspenseful. To me it was an interesting exploration of character, of discovering the truth about someone that was idolised. I suppose it didn't help that I'd heard of the 'passing the scissors' game played at the start of the book and so knew what the secret of the game was. It set the tone for not being surprised by the book at all. A good read that was only spoiled by the cover blurb being totally off.

[Amy Gentry · Rating 4 out of 5]

How much more awesome is Barbara Vine than her artsy alter-ego, Ruth Rendell? The witty dialogue, elegantly drawn scenarios, and melancholy themes in this book rank Vine with Muriel Spark and even Iris Murdoch. My only complaint about The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is that the payoff, as in many good psychological mysteries, is wimpy. I contend that there's nothing trashy about a nice grisly murder, but many of the higher-brow mystery writers (I'm looking at you, Laura Lippman and P.D. James) seem to disagree. Is Patricia Highsmith the only mystery writer who delivers both psychological detail and a shocking conclusion? Whatever, I enjoyed this book as I've enjoyed other Barbara Vine novels - mostly in one sitting.

[Deanna Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book for the most part, but the characters were utterly unlikable for me. Gerald's daughters Sarah and Hope (especially Hope) were pretentious, spoiled little girls who were nearly unbearable to listen to. I liked their mother Ursula quite a bit better, but I was still greatly bothered by how passively she endured Gerald's abuse. Without giving any spoilers, I do not believe that the revelation at the end accounts for how Gerald changed, and how much of a truly awful person he became. Not only that, but the ending was not much of a surprise for me. As soon as the few base facts were laid out, I could connect the dots. I would like to have read Hope's reaction to her 'Daddy's past, but unfortunately the book does not offer any conclusion.

[Bea Alden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Psychological mystery about the life of a recently dead father and husband. Gerald Candless, a well-known author, is much beloved by his two daughters, although disliked and resented by his long-suffering wife. When one of his daughters begins to write her father's biography, she discovers that his antecedents were quite other than he had portrayed. In fact at some point he had changed his identity and begun a totally new life. The puzzle is: why?
P. D. James writes: "Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine has transcended her genre by her remarkable imaginative power to explore and illuminate the dark corners of the human psyche."
This book is ample proof of that statement.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

By the strength of writing alone, awesome. By the frustration of characters and over delivered message, not quite. I'm such a fan of Ruth Rendell's work, but under the Barbara Vine pseudonym the stories are often less enchanting, albeit it just as strongly written. And with this story of a family who discovers a long buried secret about its patriarch, the characters ended up ultimately too frustrating and unlikeable, enough to distract from the enjoyment of the book. Rendell under her own name has often employed amoral bastards to do her stories' bidding, but it suited the crime fiction, the murder mysteries so much more. In a serious dramatic venture though the characters likeability is much more crucial to the endeavor of storytelling. Here there is the aforementioned patriarch, an author of some renown, who marries with specific purpose of begetting children. and once his goal achieved, proceeds to devote his life to them, while being absolutely appalling to his wife. The woman, who stays with him for 35 years, at first for the sake of children and then presumably for the sake of devil you know comfort. She's the main character in the book, the story is mostly told from her perspective, she's engaging and sympathetic, but after a while just an essentially passive person. Their daughters raised in such a strikingly misbalanced family total daddy's girls, of course, and both somewhat dysfunctional in their respective relationships, although to a dramatically different degree. The girls (young women now) literally loved to a fault and essentially serve to show that a parental dynamics affect the children no matter how much one sided affection may be lavished upon them. It is one of the daughters who sets out to uncover their father's mysterious past, past, of course, being a thing best left alone. The secrets she uncovers though can be seen, predicted and surmised by even a semi perceptible reader a mile away. No real surprises here, sadly, not from an expert of the subject. And now we come to my main qualm with the book and it may be best not to read the next paragraph if you haven't finished it yet, although I shall try to be discreet and not give away too much.
Rendell was a forward thinking lady, which is utterly commendable. She wrote quite progressively for the time about social matters such as homosexual rights or, until 1967 lack thereof, in England. And yes, any intelligent compassionate person can agree that those were brutal and terrible injustices and that's probably the main message of the book, but how many times in how many ways must the reader be told that, whatever happened to literary subtlety for crying out loud. And frankly, if this is the main message, maybe it would have been best served by not creating such unlikeable and/or stereotypical gay characters. Apparently with nowhere to turn to but the lewdness of public baths or forced heterosexual lifestyle, there is a man who becomes a promiscuous boytoy or a man who married under pretenses and becomes exceedingly cruel. Not exactly role models eliciting sympathy. Not to mention all the peripheral gays in the book are lascivious youth craving lechers. Everyone wearing precisely the stereotypes the public opinion at the time (and let's face it now too, legalities change, albeit much too slowly, but small mindedness prevails) would use to justify their prejudices.
Ok, we're back to the facts. There is also the matter of a well known well reviewed (even Booker shortlisted) author who apparently lacks imagination to such a startling degree that he creates book after book regurgitating his personal life with just a dusting of changes so it passes for fiction. I don't like this as an avid reader who wants to believe authors actually make stories up more or less, the magic of stories and all that. I don't buy it because this author is suppose to be a man who has abandoned his past and went to some lengths for get as far away from it as he managed. Maybe it prays on his guilty mind or it's the sort of thing that brings criminals back to the scene of their crimes. Or maybe one should watch themselves around writers, lest they be immortalized in the most unflattering ways.
I'm going to go back pretending fiction is primarily make believe. After all, look how many stories Ruth Rendell has made up...presuming they were made up. Otherwise what sort of a life...
Anyway, this review has gone on long enough. Time to read.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think -- no, more than that, I'm pretty certain -- that this is the finest, most accomplished Vine/Rendell novel I've read. It's variously called a mystery and a psychological thriller, but really it fits into neither of those categories. What it is is a novel as gripping and absorbing as you could hope for in a mystery or psychological thriller.

When bestselling literary novelist Gerald Candless dies of a heart attack, he leaves behind the widow whom for decades he has ostracized from his affections, Ursula, and the two adult daughters whom he has appallingly spoilt all their lives, Sarah and Hope. Candless's publisher approaches the elder daughter, Sarah, to commission from her a memoir of her father. As she begins to probe she discovers that the real Gerald Candless died at the age of 6, and that her father adopted the identity as a young adult in order to escape his previous life. But what was that previous life, and why should he so want to escape it?

So much for the element of the novel that the blurb focuses on. To a great extent, however, that description's misleading, because much of the book is concerned more with Ursula: how she was, as a naive young lass, swept off her feet by the charming older celebrity novelist; how the marriage soon turned loveless; how she adapted to this; and how she's restarting her life now that the burden of living in a sham marriage with a psychological tyrant has been lifted.

Ursula has some of the missing pieces of the puzzle that Sarah is slowly unraveling, so that at a reasonably early stage we're able ourselves to put two and two together; as I said, Vine's purpose here isn't to write a bamboozling mystery with an astounding revelation at the end. Instead she's presenting us with an engrossing (and moving) psychological study of the two women and, through them, of the man who in two very different ways was for so long at the center of each woman's existence.

The subtext of the book is that intolerance destroys many more human lives than we tend to realize, not just those of its immediate victims. In fact both Ursula and Sarah do manage to reclaim their lives -- or what's left of them -- but it seems there's no such chance for the ghastly Hope . . . and, of course, Gerald never did.

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like an Iris Murdoch mystery. Gerald Candless, who is mostly dead for the bulk of the book, but around whom the plot revolves, is a prolific and respected author who writes books with titles like "Purple of Cassius" and "A White Webfoot." About half-way through I identified him as a mind-70s Murdochian sort of author. Then I realized all his awful family were Murdoch-styled characters. I wonder if it was homage, critique, or coincidence.

I was really fascinated at the beginning of the book, and would have given it 4 stars anywhere up to the middle, while I was following the footwork and trying to figure out Candless's secret, but by the end, when the reason for the secret was revealed, I was kind of underwhelmed. It didn't seem important anymore.

...and "The Game" they play with every guest ("I pass the scissors crossed...") is truly hateful. What awful, awful people. See why they must be Murdochian?

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished reading this book for the second time. I first read it about 10 years ago, and realised i could not remember a great deal about the plot, though I could remember particular scenes and places mentioned in the book.

It's a mystery novel, but not not a murder mystery. The daughter of a well-known author is asked to write a memoir or biography of her father after his death, but in spite of having enjoyed a close relationship with him as a child, she finds she knows very little about him, and when she tries to learn more, finds that she knew less that she thought she did -- he doesn't seem to be who he claimed to be at all.

In that sense it's a mystery novel linked to family history and genealogy, because her search is really a genealogical one, to find who her father really was, and who his family were. So it's the kind of novel that might appeal to family historians.

[Marigold · Rating 3 out of 5]

I re-read this book to fit my book group's "puzzle" theme. Barbara Vine's novels are always good puzzlers - never "who done it", but "why was it done". The Chimney Sweeper's Boy opens with the death of Gerald Candless. Candless was a famous writer, best selling & critically acclaimed, who spent 30+ years in a loveless marriage & raised his two daughters to worship him - to the point where they are quite dysfunctional. Now in the process of researching her father's biography, Gerald's daughter discovers her father was not who he claimed to be.

Characters - Mostly supremely unattractive. Setting - England/London, probably 1970s. Writing - This is what keeps me coming back to B. Vine. Because she's a skilled writer, you want to keep reading & you want to find out what will happen - even if you hate all the characters!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine, at her best, a psychologically twisted tale of deceit and obsession. A famous British novelist dies, leaving his two daughters bereft and his wife relieved (for reasons that will become clear as the book progresses). His publisher asks one daughter to write a memoir of her father, and therein lies a twisty tale of mystery and deception.

The characters are finely drawn, Sarah the older daughter, who's writing the memoir, Hope the younger daughter, and especially Ursulla, the wife (now widow). I'll not reveal what Sarah discovers ... that's the beauty of the tale. This is a gripping, can't put it down read.

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

★★★★★ 5 stars

“I want to be in love. I want to be possessed and obsessed by it, I want the sky to change colour and the sun to shine all the time. I want to long for the phone to ring and pace the room when it doesn’t. I want to be breathless at the sound of her voice and tongue-tied when I first see her.”

A layered and complex character driven novel, one that from start to finish thrums with suspense.
Guilt, lost chances, secretive relationships and desires are explored throughout this novel.
After the death of her husband, renown writer Gerald Candless, Ursula considers her loveless marriage and the freedom she has gained as a widow. Her daughters, unlike her, loved Gerald. It is hinted, from the very beginning, that Gerald marries solely to become a father: his desire, during the 60s and the 70s is made to make him unusual, different. Yet, he takes control of his daughters, pushing Ursula out of the family picture. Sarah, the eldest daughter, is charged with writing a memoir in his memory. Grief stricken, she agrees, only to then discover than her mythical father is not who he claimed to be.
A perusal of the past brings to life Ursula's unhappy marriage as well as the lives of the families surrounding the mystery of Gerald's true identity. Identity, love, freedom, all play a large role in the story's narrative. The richly detailed backdrop provides a wistful portrayal of 20th century (from the 40s to the 90s) England. Characters who actively challenge themselves and one another make the narrative utterly engaging. Barbara Vine doesn't shy away from depicting the most unnerving and uncomfortable aspects of her society: personal vices, poverty, depression, repression, and various injustices abound.
Also, Vine doesn't provide clear cut answers or universal truths. Her story and her characters do no fit in neat little boxes. She explores the actions of different types of people without any sentimentalist moral lessons.
Vine allows us to know what is coming – that is the 'mystery' at the core of this novel – however she doesn't let the details, the particulars, of that mystery known to us: she keeps us guessing, even when we are fairly certain of what exactly happened, we are only provided with fragmented glimpses of the fuller 'picture'.
With a beautiful and richly descriptive prose, characters who are both sensual and finicky, a plot that relies on the art of writing itself (so many books are mentioned!) , well, The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is a truly remarkable read.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another of the Vines that I seem drawn to re-read every three years or so, and it never disappoints, though I do have one reservation about it.

As is usually the case with Vine, the past casts its shadow down the years - What was Gerald Candless's connection to a London murder that he later fictionalized in one of his novels? Why did he completely turn his back on his family of origin?

It's the story of a man who completely reinvents himself because he has a secret. Of course, no one knows this until his daughter undertakes researching a biography of him after his sudden death, and finds out that he wasn't exactly who they thought he was. It's also the story of the loveless marriage he undertakes for his own purposes, and the emotional abuse which ensues. He even ridicules his wife in his fiction, at which point she refuses to type any further manuscripts for him. He dotes on his daughters, and they in turn adore him, almost to the exclusion of their mother.

My one reservation about this book is that I don't 100% believe in Gerald Candless's "reinvention" of himself which involves completely shutting off his sexuality.

Other than that, this ranks among my Top Five Vines.

8/10: Re-reading it.
8/13: Enjoyed it again.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's got the intricacy that is Rendell's trademark -- this time there is a mystery without a crime.

Noted author Gerald Candless dies at 71, leaving an embittered wife and two adoring daughters, Sarah and Hope. Sarah is approached by her father's publisher with the suggestion that she pen a memoir of life with her father. When she begins to do research, however she finds that her father's very identity is a puzzle. The real Gerald Candless died when he was a small boy, so who was calling himself Gerald Candless for all these decades?

Pieces of the puzzle are revealed to the reader through Sarah's investigations, through the painful recollections of Candless's widow, Ursula, and finally through a manuscript submitted by another author.

[Izzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept reading this book because I was waiting for a mystery to be revealed or to find a chord between myself and the characters or for Gerald Candless to tuern out to be this great monster as one newspaper called him. None of that happened. The women were weak or silly and Geral Candless was a nasty old Qween all the way through. I give it a two thumbs down.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cruel and sadistic husband (but loving father) had a secret life and hidden identity, which is uncovered when his daughter is commissioned to write a memoir. 100 of the 440 pages could have been edited out with no loss to plot or character.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed the Vine books. They're so brooding, full of spaces where people don't connect with one another. Hell to live in, but perversely fun to read (at least my life isn't that awful).

[Debby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rarely does it happen that I complete a book and come to the conclusion that I didn't like the book. I've tried to come up with reasons to give it the 2-star "it was OK", but I just con't get there.
I was going along fine as the story was being set up. Imagine your father is a famous author who adores his daughters and appears to tolerate his wife. Suddenly he dies of a heart attack. His publisher asks one of the daughters to write a biography of her father. So far so good.
As she begins doing research for the book, all sorts of "problems" begin surfacing. It appears he's kept lots of "secrets".
It's as the secrets get revealed that I find myself wishing there had been a clur of some sort as to what direction the book would take because if I'd known it up front, I wouldn't have read it in the first place. After fnishing the book, I went back to read the FantasticFiction description of the book to see if I'd missed someethiing before I read the book. Nope! It just sounded like a good mystery about dysfunctional man and his wife.
This is the first book I've read by Barbara Vine. I liked hewriting style and will read something else by her. I just did not like the direction the book took or the ending of The Chmney Sweeper's Boy.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine, comes up with another winner. A rather complex story about the mysterious background of a recently deceased best-selling author. We meet the very unhappy wife whose life was a living hell with the man, their two daughters who idolized their father to a fault, and in flashbacks, the author himself. None of his family knew that he was not who he said he was. His eldest daughter is asked to write his biography and she soon discovers that her father had been lying to them and she starts searching for answers with minimal information as to where to begin. The author leads us through blind alleys and dead-ends on the way to finding the secret of the elusive author. The reader may figure out at least part of the answer before the last few chapters but it doesn't spoil the enjoyment of this book. Recommended.