I just finished reading "A Child's Child" by Barbara Vine.
You might know that Barbara Vine is the other name for Baroness Ruth Rendall. Perhaps feeling confined to a genre like murder mystery, Ms. Rendall felt the need to write in a genre that would give her a freer sense of where she could actually go with the plot. Margaret Atwood went into science fiction with "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Oryx and Crake".
Many writers feel confined to their genre and want to be considered serious purveyors of "literature".
In any case, both strains of Ms. Rendall turned out to be potent.
Very many years ago "From Doon With Death", Ms. Rendall's first detective/murder mystery came out. 1964.
This was produced as a television play and starred a very young Mr. Colin Firth previous to his dishy Darcy days.
The style of writing did not exactly conform to the established mystery writers of the day. She wrote within the confines of murder mystery genre but with a little of her own...er....oooomph.
How she has changed. Over the decades increasingly more of the essential Rendall began to appear.
Later, as Barbara Vine, "A Dark Adapted Eye" came and
this too was produced for television with the amazing under rated actor Ms. Celia Imrie, an actor with colossal presence.
By under rated I mean she should be well known over here in North Am, too.
I have read, and own so many of her books, as well as another friend of mine who was turned on to her by me, however one of the most macabre books with the most devious plot twist, fwico, ever- The Lake of Darkness.
It concerns a man who thinks he's helping an old servant by giving money to her son~~ Finn.
This character is an out of work kitchen fitter who doubles as a hit man.
Can you guess what happens? In an absolutely diabolical plot move, the men meet, in a pub, and the good Samaritan thinks he has helped an old servant, by hiring him to refit a kitchen.
What does the part time assassin think? He thinks he has been hired to kill the Samaritan's wife!
You are just going: "No!", and it is unaccountably often… well...hilarious.
Many books roll by and each one improves.
You know me I am not prone to hyperbolic superlatives,
but Ms. Rendall's "The St. Zita Society" must represent her crowning achievement in transcending a genre into pure literature. Better than pure literature. What I must note is: it is so real. There is a death, not exactly a murder, but a death is covered up. The police are drawn as human. 40% of murders go unsolved according to a site I just googled on the internet. That is reality.
You are reading along and suddenly you do a double take because the sentence you just read is acidly humourous.
No word is superfluous.
Description is curt and absolutely necessary to the plot.
A few strokes the scene is painted.
Now we come to "A Child's Child". It is two books.
There is a book in the middle that the central character has been asked to read.
The two themes here are unwed mothers and the U.K.s laws against homosexuality. These laws, as are all discriminatory laws against the ESGIO species, an unwarranted fascism of a brutal heterosexual majority.
All feminists should read this book for the comments on the reactions in early last century of a women being unmarried when giving birth. Young women feminists particularly should read this book as an historical account of hatred and rejection played such a large role within families.
These two themes are woven, entwined, float up, descend, revolve around on the pages like a masterpiece painting. Feminist of both gender species must also read Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy. We must understand history if we are to know where we are today.
Ms. Rendall has achieved a literary sophistication that
is estimable.
It is fascinating to see the changes over the decades,
now I, and friends, used to await every new novel.
Sadly, though it is all of our lots in life, Ms Rendell has passed away.
Whether or not the literary establishment,
whatever that means, considers her work hi falutin enough to be considered top drawer I, for one, could not say. I suggest it does not matter.
Ms. Rendall transcended these petty distinctions
with powerfully created characterizations, contextual credibility, and a demonic sense of anticipation, and now cultural commentary [without preaching], -- an amazing accomplishment, at least,
that is from what I can observe.
