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Barbara Vine Book order (chronological)

    Barbara Vine is a pseudonym for the British author Ruth Rendell. Under this name, she explores psychological crime novels that delve into complex family dynamics and the repercussions of secrets and crimes. Her writing is distinguished by elegant prose and sharp insights into the human mind. Vine masterfully crafts compelling plots and characters, reflecting social changes over the last four decades, including issues of domestic violence and the evolving status of women.

    The Birthday Present
    No Night is Too Long
    King Solomon's Carpet
    The House of Stairs
    Gallowglass
    A Fatal Inversion
    • The Child's Child

      • 288 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      From “the most brilliant mystery writer of our time" (Patricia Cornwell), The Child’s Child is a thriller, set in London, about a brother and sister involved with the same man.When 30-something Grace and her brother Andrew inherit their grandmother's house in London they decide to move in together. They’ve always gotten on well and the house is large enough to split down the middle. Yet when Andrew's partner James moves in, the balance is altered – with almost fatal consequences.A master of psychological suspense, Barbara Vine takes us where violence and social taboos collide. She shows how society's treatment of those it once considered undesirable has changed – and how sometimes it hasn't.

      The Child's Child2013
      3.2
    • The Birthday Present

      • 273 pages
      • 10 hours of reading

      A love affair is flourishing between Ivor Tesham and Hebe Furnal. What excitement Hebe lacks at home is compensated for by the well-bred and attractive Tesham. On the eve of her twenty-eighth birthday, Tesham decides to give Hebe a present to remember: something far more memorable than the costly string of pearls he's already lavished upon her.

      The Birthday Present2009
      3.3
    • Minotaur

      • 455 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      Kirstin Kvist is 24 wanneer ze Zweden verlaat om in Engeland te gaan werken. Via haar vriend komt ze terecht op Lydstep Old Hall, een oud, verwaarloosd landhuis in Essex. Daar gaat ze zorgen voor John, een veertigjarige schizofrene man. Al bij aankomst beseft Kirstin dat ze in een ongewone familie is beland. Johns familieleden gunnen elkaar het licht in de ogen niet. Het enige wat hen bij elkaar houdt, is zijn geld. Wanneer een van zijn zussen een relatie krijgt met een kunstschilder uit het dorp, is dat de aanzet tot een reeks gruwelijke gebeurtenissen. Het noodlot lijkt onafwendbaar…

      Minotaur2005
      3.4
    • The Chimney Sweeper's Boy

      • 352 pages
      • 13 hours of reading

      Sie waren Papas ein und alles, aber sie hatten keine Ahnung, wer Papa in Wirklichkeit war. Die älteste Tochter Sarah beginnt, die Lebensgeschichte des verstorbenen Vaters zu schreiben. Sarah taucht ein in die Untiefen eines Lebens, das wie das Meer an der Küste von Devonshire, an der der Familiensitz liegt, morsche Bruchstücke freigibt. Zum Vorschein kommen beängstigende Details eines Doppellebens.

      The Chimney Sweeper's Boy1999
      3.5
    • Tim Cornish, a creative writing student, sits composing a confession: an admission of a crime committed two years ago that has yet to be discovered. It began when he first encountered Ivo, a magnetic man, older than himself, and felt compelled to kiss him. By the time they travel together to Alaska's glacial wastes, Tim has fallen in and out of love with Ivo; his real passion is now only for Isabel whom he has met in Ivo's absence. The horror of Tim's subsequent journey with Ivo, battling with disgust and despair, may andure in his memory for ever

      No Night is Too Long1995
      3.6
    • Gallowglass

      • 296 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      <p>Sandor is a wonderful storyteller and little Joe is ready to listen. The power of the educated over the simple is horribly clear in this disturbing and unusual relationship. As Sandor's motivation both for rescuing little Joe and then for weaving his spell of words becomes clear, the darkness surrounding him is too much for them both, and for the beautiful ex-model sequestered in her Suffolk mansion by an obsessive husband. A net of fear, greed, love and desire closes around them in a landscape that heightens the contrast between man and the natural world.</p><p>Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has won many awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America. She has also won the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer.</p><p>Dermot Crowley has appeared in many West End plays including the original production of Amadeus. Other theatre credits include Finbar in The Weir and Scenes from the Big Picture. His television work includes Spooks, Kingdom, New Tricks and Bleak House, while among his films are The Legend of Bagger Vance, Before You Go and Babel.</p>

      Gallowglass1993
    • King Solomon's Carpet

      • 355 pages
      • 13 hours of reading

      A crime mystery based around the London Underground and the people frequenting it

      King Solomon's Carpet1992
      3.8
    • A Fatal Inversion

      • 320 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      In the long hot summer of 1976, a group of young people are camping in Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie hardly ask why they are there, what they are doing or how they are to live; they scavenge, steal and sell the family heirlooms. Ten years later, the bodies of a woman and a child are discovered in the Hall's animal cemetery.

      A Fatal Inversion1992
      4.0
    • When Sandor snatched little Joe from the path of a London Tube train, he was quick to make clear the terms of the rescue. 'I saved your life,' he told the homeless youngster, 'so your life belongs to me now'. Sandor began to tell him a fairy-tale: an ageing prince, a kidnapped princess chained by one ankle, a missed rendezvous.

      Gallowglass1990
      3.8
    • The House of Stairs

      • 72 pages
      • 3 hours of reading

      Gone with the Wind is a great romantic story of love and war and one of the best-selling books of all time. In Part 2, the American Civil War has destroyed Scarlett O’Hara’s comfortable world. Will she lose her home too? Or can she save it and rebuild her life?

      The House of Stairs1988
      3.8
    • A Dark-Adapted Eye

      • 278 pages
      • 10 hours of reading

      The award-winning author and acclaimed mistress of suspense delves deeply into the heart of a family to uncover the circumstances that lead to murder more than thirty years ago. The story of a family's long-buried secret past is revealed--and the deadly consequences. Mystery Guild Selection. Doubleday Alternate.

      A Dark-Adapted Eye1987