Rating: 
Summary: Clever, surprising, powerful
Review: Well, what can I say but, This novel is by Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) and that means it is excellent. That statement is true of every single one of her 50 + books. Anna's Book is no exception (much more suitably titled, "Asta's Book" in the UK). It is an incredibly powerful mysery, brilliantly told. The narrative is so powerful that you become swept away, almost not noticing how brilliant the characters are, how stunningly she evokes the atmosphere of fin de siecle London, and the experience of a foreigner's integration into that often exclusive society. This is a remarkable book not just for the fact that it is a great mystery, but all the other things as well. Boiled down very basically, it is about the unravelling of a mystery surrounding Anna, a Danish immigrant to the UK in 1905. Years later, an extensive series of diaries of her penship are found, and published to great acclaim. Soon, though, it becomes clear that something in those diaries contains the clue to a century-old unsolved murder and the disappearance of a young child...It is up to her grandaughter Ann, who has inherited the original diaries upon the death of her aunt, to delve deep into Anna's life, and an era about which society was very different to today. Vine writes brilliantly, and she creates character with an almost unbelieveable ease. The mystery is woven in and plotted with a skill that astounds: certainly, if a reader were to ask "If one book were to more purely exemplify Ruth Rendell's clearly brilliant plotting abilities, what would it be?" I would answer heartily, "Anna's Book"! Anna herself is a fascinating character, and her diaries entries are sprinkled throughout the novel, and make some brilliant reading. I found myself often having to tell myself that they were fiction, not the result of some Danish immigrant's boredom at the turn of the century. They alone are a remarkable achievement. I can only say well done to Rendell, for creating a sterling mystery novel, a brilliant character study, and a wonderful and atmospheric rendering of an old society gone by. Great stuff from Vine.
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