Book description
A short story about the shocking revelations of the realities that
lie concealed behind day-to-day family life: an ailing woman's covert
cruelty to her caring daughter-in-law; a desire to escape the family
shackles; and resignation to loss.
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously
published in the collection Blood Lines.
Ruth Rendell is crime fiction at its very best. Her first novel,
From Doon With Death
, appeared in 1964, and since then her reputation and readership have
grown steadily with each new book. She has received major awards for her
work; three Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America; the Crime
Writers' Gold Dagger Award for 1976's best crime novel,
A Demon in My View
; the Arts Council National Book Award for Genre Fiction in 1981 for
The Lake of Darkness
; the Crime Writer's Gold Dagger Award for 1986's best crime novel for
Live Flesh
; in 1987 the Crime Writer's Gold Dagger Award for
A Fatal Inversion
and in 1991 the same award for
King Solomon's Carpet
, both written under the pseudonym Barbara Vine; the
Sunday Times
Literary Award in 1990; and in 1991 the Crime Writer's Cartier Diamond
Award for outstanding contribution to the genre. Her books are
translated into 21 languages.
