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Asta's Book
The bestselling author of King Solomon's Carpet presents a tour de force of psychological suspense involving the malevolent consequences of a 75-year old murder. Vine is the recipient of three Edgars and four Gold Dagger Awards.
341 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1993
348 people are currently reading
2591 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Vine
29 books463 followersPseudonym 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.
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.
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November 18, 2024
Did Ruth Rendell consider the novels she wrote under the pseudonym "Barbara Vine" to be her best work? I personally think this is more than likely. Much missed by her many fans since her death in 2015, Ruth Rendell was a very prolific and highly regarded crime writer, with over sixty books to her name. She won many awards and honours, and continued to craft novel after novel, even though she increasingly had other commitments. She regularly attended the House of Lords every day, for instance, stating firmly that if she were to be awarded the honour of CBE, (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) she intended to work for it rather than allowing it to be a sinecure. Yet, astonishingly, the stories kept coming; readable, dependable crime mysteries, even when she was in her 80's.
I have read many of Ruth Rendell's novels and short stories over the years, including some of the hugely popular Wexford series of twenty-four books. These are cosy mysteries, solid workaday reads, though some have more of an edge, and could be termed thrillers. Some stand-alone novels are extremely downbeat with an almost vicious element. She was adept at getting inside the mind of the perpetrator of a crime, later writing psychological murder novels rather than mysteries. She wrote about those who are socially isolated, or those afflicted by mental illness or anxiety problems. The novels show sharp insight, feel very realistic, and always convey a great sense of place, down to the smallest detail. If you happen to know the area where one of her books is set, you will not be able to fault her description; her novels are all meticulously researched.
But the novels she wrote as "Barbara Vine", which number fourteen in all, have something else. They have an extra quality, which - although I hesitate to use the word in case it seems judgemental about her main oeuvre by comparison - is more literary. The writing is lifted above the ordinary; the plots are more nuanced and complex. There is evidence of a formidable amount of solid historical research; not presented in a dry format, but spun into a compelling read. Often this is conveyed by a character in the present researching into their background. There is yet more depth in the exploration of character and relationships. Inevitably there is an element of mystery, and intrigue, or of story layered upon story, involving deep history or flashback; this is trademark Barbara Vine. Sometimes it is not clear whether there was a crime or not, and the suggestion often occurs late in the book, when the reader has become absorbed in the reality of the book's world, and perhaps even forgotten that it is genre fiction.
Asta's Book is no exception. Published in 1993, as the sixth "Barbara Vine" novel, it has a contemporary setting, with flashbacks to 1905 included. The eponymous "book" is the diary of the main character, Asta, used as a clever literary device. Reading the novel, one thus has a dual sense of another country, another and different culture, and another time as well as the present.
In the historically earlier parts of the tale, the 25-year old Asta Westerby and her two sons have moved to Hackney, in East London, from their home in Denmark. Asta has a husband, Rasmus, who does not seem to be in evidence, but is away on business. He also seems not to be greatly missed by Asta, although Asta is again expecting. Perhaps Asta is dissembling slightly when she claims never to have loved Rasmus. She now believes that he married her mostly for her dowry, writing,
"I suppose I should be thankful Rasmus isn't a Mahometan, otherwise I'm sure he'd be finding another wife ... to marry for 5,000 kroner."
Asta feels lonely and alienated in a culture and community she dislikes, feeling superior to many around her. Derisively she records,
"When I went out this morning a woman asked me if there were polar bears in the streets of Copenhagen."
Asta resents what she views as a small-minded and provincial community, and sees no need to adapt her ways. As a Danish women she wears her wedding ring on her right hand, even though the local people look askance at her, clearly suspecting she is an unmarried mother. Yet Asta is contemptuous of such ignorance, and too proud to do anything to clarify her position. Asta has no need of anyone else. She even treats her servant, Hansine, the closest she ever had to a friend, with contempt. Because Hansine is illiterate, Asta regards her as little better than a farm animal. Through her candidly disdainful attitude in her diaries, we see that Asta has no respect for Hansine, and also has a very cold and indifferent demeanour towards her two sons. Asta always prefers her own company, in her own house, with its Danish furniture and ornaments, and her books. Her own view of her life is often bleak,
"Hope is a horrible thing. I don't know why these church people call it a virtue, it is horrible because it's so often disappointed."
Asta is not a likeable character, but we are intrigued by her, through reading her diary which eventually is to cover 62 years. Asta's diary was never meant for others' eyes but we learn from the modern part of the book, that some of it had been discovered and translated. Her daughter, Swanhild (known as "Swanny") had arranged publication seventy years after the first diary had been written, and it then became an overnight sensation. It was a bestseller, achieving cult status as a fascinating domestic record of Edwardian times - and Swanny achieved star status herself, basking in the reflected glory. The diary had been kept up by Asta until 1967, although part of it was now missing; some of it had perhaps been destroyed by Asta herself, and not all of what existed had yet been translated.
In the present-day part of the novel, we meet the viewpoint character, Ann, a professional researcher, who is far more personable; rather shy and introverted. Swanny has also died, and Ann Eastbrook is her niece, and also Asta's granddaughter. To her great surprise she has inherited the diaries, and at the beginning of the story is not sure what to do with them.
Soon after the funeral for Swanny, an old acquaintance of Ann's approaches her. The two have a very involved history of jealousies, the jarring notes adding frisson and an ironic humour to the plot. This friend-cum-enemy of Ann's, Cary, is a television producer, who looks to Ann as a possible source of information. She happens to be making a documentary film about the unsolved murder, in 1905, of a Lizzie Roper, also of her mother, and of the disappearance of her infant daughter. Would Asta's book from the time reveal any information which would help? Lizzie Roper had lived only a few streets away from Asta at the time.
The novel now centres around Asta's diaries, which had gripped the public's imagination as they revealed a forgotten world. Ann decides to do a bit of literary investigation, and her reading of the diaries does seem to reveal significant gaps. Are there clues to the unsolved mystery in the details? Perhaps they hold the key to the unsolved murders - or others - or possibly no murders at all. What of the missing child - or perhaps there was no missing child. Had she been abducted? Or herself murdered? Was she still alive under another identity? Why was Asta's daughter, Swanny, who had been born in 1905, a lifelong favourite of her mother? There are secrets - and lies. Asta teases, and others suffer. There are misunderstandings. Some family secrets and hidden crimes have unintended consequences.
The denouement of the book is devious and clever, and clues are fed to the reader piece by cunning piece. The buried secrets of nearly a century before are gradually revealed, and the puzzle begins to make sense. But not all the threads will necessarily be tied into the plot. Some become unravelled again; they are deceptions, blind alleys. Asta's granddaughter and the reader alike will be baffled and intrigued until the last page.
This is a very satisfying read, with much cultural and historical richness and a complex multi-layered plot. A double detective story, it is full of depth. It effectively conveys Danish domesticity and claustrophobia, with much period detail, the whole given authenticity set against world events. It then graduates into the later parts, depicting the Edwardian love of sensational crime and lurid melodrama. The parts near the end which depict the newspaper reports of a famous Edwardian murder trial, are engrossing in themselves. The tension and thrills crank up as the novel nears its conclusion, and it is so skilfully constructed that the suspense does not let up for one moment, until all is revealed. The clues are there for those who can weave through such a tangled web, but there are many red herrings planted along the way. Murder and madness, shocks and senility, dark deeds and dementia, misalliance and misidentity, mystery and missing persons - we have it all in this riveting read.
Note :
As an interesting side-note, some of the copies of Asta's Book are alternatively titled Anna's Book. In the United States, Ruth Rendell's American publisher was apparently worried that the name "Asta" would remind potential readers of the dog from the "Thin Man" films!
I have read many of Ruth Rendell's novels and short stories over the years, including some of the hugely popular Wexford series of twenty-four books. These are cosy mysteries, solid workaday reads, though some have more of an edge, and could be termed thrillers. Some stand-alone novels are extremely downbeat with an almost vicious element. She was adept at getting inside the mind of the perpetrator of a crime, later writing psychological murder novels rather than mysteries. She wrote about those who are socially isolated, or those afflicted by mental illness or anxiety problems. The novels show sharp insight, feel very realistic, and always convey a great sense of place, down to the smallest detail. If you happen to know the area where one of her books is set, you will not be able to fault her description; her novels are all meticulously researched.
But the novels she wrote as "Barbara Vine", which number fourteen in all, have something else. They have an extra quality, which - although I hesitate to use the word in case it seems judgemental about her main oeuvre by comparison - is more literary. The writing is lifted above the ordinary; the plots are more nuanced and complex. There is evidence of a formidable amount of solid historical research; not presented in a dry format, but spun into a compelling read. Often this is conveyed by a character in the present researching into their background. There is yet more depth in the exploration of character and relationships. Inevitably there is an element of mystery, and intrigue, or of story layered upon story, involving deep history or flashback; this is trademark Barbara Vine. Sometimes it is not clear whether there was a crime or not, and the suggestion often occurs late in the book, when the reader has become absorbed in the reality of the book's world, and perhaps even forgotten that it is genre fiction.
Asta's Book is no exception. Published in 1993, as the sixth "Barbara Vine" novel, it has a contemporary setting, with flashbacks to 1905 included. The eponymous "book" is the diary of the main character, Asta, used as a clever literary device. Reading the novel, one thus has a dual sense of another country, another and different culture, and another time as well as the present.
In the historically earlier parts of the tale, the 25-year old Asta Westerby and her two sons have moved to Hackney, in East London, from their home in Denmark. Asta has a husband, Rasmus, who does not seem to be in evidence, but is away on business. He also seems not to be greatly missed by Asta, although Asta is again expecting. Perhaps Asta is dissembling slightly when she claims never to have loved Rasmus. She now believes that he married her mostly for her dowry, writing,
"I suppose I should be thankful Rasmus isn't a Mahometan, otherwise I'm sure he'd be finding another wife ... to marry for 5,000 kroner."
Asta feels lonely and alienated in a culture and community she dislikes, feeling superior to many around her. Derisively she records,
"When I went out this morning a woman asked me if there were polar bears in the streets of Copenhagen."
Asta resents what she views as a small-minded and provincial community, and sees no need to adapt her ways. As a Danish women she wears her wedding ring on her right hand, even though the local people look askance at her, clearly suspecting she is an unmarried mother. Yet Asta is contemptuous of such ignorance, and too proud to do anything to clarify her position. Asta has no need of anyone else. She even treats her servant, Hansine, the closest she ever had to a friend, with contempt. Because Hansine is illiterate, Asta regards her as little better than a farm animal. Through her candidly disdainful attitude in her diaries, we see that Asta has no respect for Hansine, and also has a very cold and indifferent demeanour towards her two sons. Asta always prefers her own company, in her own house, with its Danish furniture and ornaments, and her books. Her own view of her life is often bleak,
"Hope is a horrible thing. I don't know why these church people call it a virtue, it is horrible because it's so often disappointed."
Asta is not a likeable character, but we are intrigued by her, through reading her diary which eventually is to cover 62 years. Asta's diary was never meant for others' eyes but we learn from the modern part of the book, that some of it had been discovered and translated. Her daughter, Swanhild (known as "Swanny") had arranged publication seventy years after the first diary had been written, and it then became an overnight sensation. It was a bestseller, achieving cult status as a fascinating domestic record of Edwardian times - and Swanny achieved star status herself, basking in the reflected glory. The diary had been kept up by Asta until 1967, although part of it was now missing; some of it had perhaps been destroyed by Asta herself, and not all of what existed had yet been translated.
In the present-day part of the novel, we meet the viewpoint character, Ann, a professional researcher, who is far more personable; rather shy and introverted. Swanny has also died, and Ann Eastbrook is her niece, and also Asta's granddaughter. To her great surprise she has inherited the diaries, and at the beginning of the story is not sure what to do with them.
Soon after the funeral for Swanny, an old acquaintance of Ann's approaches her. The two have a very involved history of jealousies, the jarring notes adding frisson and an ironic humour to the plot. This friend-cum-enemy of Ann's, Cary, is a television producer, who looks to Ann as a possible source of information. She happens to be making a documentary film about the unsolved murder, in 1905, of a Lizzie Roper, also of her mother, and of the disappearance of her infant daughter. Would Asta's book from the time reveal any information which would help? Lizzie Roper had lived only a few streets away from Asta at the time.
The novel now centres around Asta's diaries, which had gripped the public's imagination as they revealed a forgotten world. Ann decides to do a bit of literary investigation, and her reading of the diaries does seem to reveal significant gaps. Are there clues to the unsolved mystery in the details? Perhaps they hold the key to the unsolved murders - or others - or possibly no murders at all. What of the missing child - or perhaps there was no missing child. Had she been abducted? Or herself murdered? Was she still alive under another identity? Why was Asta's daughter, Swanny, who had been born in 1905, a lifelong favourite of her mother? There are secrets - and lies. Asta teases, and others suffer. There are misunderstandings. Some family secrets and hidden crimes have unintended consequences.
The denouement of the book is devious and clever, and clues are fed to the reader piece by cunning piece. The buried secrets of nearly a century before are gradually revealed, and the puzzle begins to make sense. But not all the threads will necessarily be tied into the plot. Some become unravelled again; they are deceptions, blind alleys. Asta's granddaughter and the reader alike will be baffled and intrigued until the last page.
This is a very satisfying read, with much cultural and historical richness and a complex multi-layered plot. A double detective story, it is full of depth. It effectively conveys Danish domesticity and claustrophobia, with much period detail, the whole given authenticity set against world events. It then graduates into the later parts, depicting the Edwardian love of sensational crime and lurid melodrama. The parts near the end which depict the newspaper reports of a famous Edwardian murder trial, are engrossing in themselves. The tension and thrills crank up as the novel nears its conclusion, and it is so skilfully constructed that the suspense does not let up for one moment, until all is revealed. The clues are there for those who can weave through such a tangled web, but there are many red herrings planted along the way. Murder and madness, shocks and senility, dark deeds and dementia, misalliance and misidentity, mystery and missing persons - we have it all in this riveting read.
Note :
As an interesting side-note, some of the copies of Asta's Book are alternatively titled Anna's Book. In the United States, Ruth Rendell's American publisher was apparently worried that the name "Asta" would remind potential readers of the dog from the "Thin Man" films!
May 12, 2025
In the early 1900s Rasmus Westerby moves his wife Asta and their two young boys from their native Denmark to London.
Rasmus parks his family in the middling neighborhood of Hackney and leaves for long stretches of time, trying to become a business success.
For her part Asta doesn't like Hackney, disdains English people, has little interest in her sons, and has no love for her husband - who she thinks only married her for the dowry of 5,000 kroner. As it happens Asta is pregnant again (characters in this book have no concept of birth control), and is desperate to have a girl. So when little Swanhild (Swanny) is born in 1905, Asta is thrilled. A few years later another daughter, Marie, comes along - and the family is complete.
Asta is a conventional and conservative woman of her time but she's well-educated and loves to read - especially Charles Dickens in Danish.
To assuage some of the loneliness Asta feels in the alien environs of England, she keeps a diary. In the journal, Asta talks about many things: daily activities, thoughts, feelings, people (children, husband, friends, relatives, servants, neighbors, acquaintances, etc.), food, clothes, homes, furniture, ornaments, parties, gossip, newspaper stories, and so on....anything that pops into her head. Asta's diary entries - spanning more than sixty years - are interspersed throughout the book, which goes back and forth between past and present.
After Asta's death (in her eighties) her oldest daughter Swanny finds the diaries. Swanny has the first couple of volumes translated from Danish to English and publishes them, as a sort of lark. To Swanny's surprise the diaries become wildly popular - a worldwide phenomenon! In time, additional volumes of the diary are published and Swanny, as the editor, becomes a celebrity in her own right. There are meetings with publishers, book signings, public appearances, photos in magazines, and world travel.
After Swanny dies, her niece Ann (Marie's daughter) - a professional researcher - takes over as editor of the remaining diaries.
As the story unfolds a couple of 'mysteries' are revealed.
Swanny's conundrum: When Asta is widowed she moves in with Swanny, who has a rich successful husband and a lovely large house. Asta loves to socialize and - for her own 83rd birthday - arranges a lavish 'chocolate party' at Swanny's home.
On the day of the party Swanny receives an anonymous letter that says ".....You are not your mother's child or your father's. They got you from somewhere when their own one died...."
Swanny, who always knew her father didn't like her, intuitively believes this. She confronts her mother, who (more or less) admits Swanny is not her natural born child, but refuses to say anything more.....ever! Swanny is devastated and haunted by this revelation, and desperately tries to discover her origins. When Swanny (and then Ann) get custody of the diaries, they study them for clues to Swanny's origin - but several vital pages are missing. For Swanny the enigma of her parentage has severe psychological consequences.
The Roper murder: In her 1905 diary Asta briefly mentions that her maid, Hansine, has become acquainted with Florence - the servant of a family called the Ropers. Hansine asks permission to invite her new friend Florence to tea, and Asta agrees.
Soon afterward Lizzie Roper is murdered and her toddler daughter Edith disappears. Lizzie's husband, Alfred Roper, is accused of murdering his wife - and the trial is avidly followed by the public.
Jump to the present and true crime stories are very popular. A producer named Cary is planning to make a movie about the old Roper case. She asks Ann (the current editor of the Asta diaries) for a peek at the yet unpublished diaries - to see if the Ropers are mentioned again. This leads to a loose collaboration between Cary and Ann as they look for information about the Roper affair.
'Asta's Book' is both a novel of psychological suspense and the story of Asta Westerby and her family. Asta's story is quite compelling. As Rasmus's fortunes rise and fall she goes from lower middle class to prosperity to struggling once again, before moving in with Swanny. I enjoyed the diary entries about Asta's fashionable clothes, Danish foods (blekage and kransekage), household trappings, love for Swanny, 'crush' on her driver, and so on.
Kransekage
I also liked the description of the dollhouse Rasmus made for Ann, called Padanaram. This masterpiece took years to complete and was a faithful reproduction of the Westerby's posh home at the time. (I would have loved to have this dollhouse as a child. LOL)
The mystery portion of the story is also quite engaging. I wanted to know about Swanny's heritage and was intrigued by the various theories proposed by different characters. I was also eager to discover whether Alfred Roper was guilty or innocent of murdering his wife.
"Asta's Book" - published in 1993 - has the vibe of an 'old fashioned' mystery. It moves slowly and thoughtfully, contains provocative red herrings, and has no graphic violence (except for one slit throat). The book would appeal to a wide array of readers, including fans of literary novels, psychological suspense stories, and traditional mysteries. Highly recommended.
You can follow my review at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/
July 14, 2015
7/14/15: I've listened to this several times over the past few months on audio, superbly performed by Harriet Walter. As many times as I've read the book, I'm still "hearing" new sentences, it seems (I've listened to several other Vines as well during this time, and the same is true of them). Ironically, I was in the process of listening to this when Ruth Rendell was felled by a stroke in January, and another Vine when she died in May.
7/24/13: It's always interesting to get other readers' 'take' on a book - it's almost as thought they read a different book! Ironically, some of the things others had a problem with are the very things that so impress me about this book.
10/29/09 (approximate): This is my favorite novel by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine, and at this point just about my favorite novel, period. I recently finished reading it for the eleventh time. I much prefer the book's British title, ASTA'S BOOK, for a character's name definitely influences how you envision them.
A famous diary that may provide clues to a brutal murder, a present-day narrative by the diarist's grand-daughter, and a trial transcript - from these elements Rendell weaves together a spellbinding narrative about the search for identity. In doing so she creates a world and characters that I hate to leave behind, as she also does in A DARK-ADAPTED EYE, A FATAL INVERSION, THE HOUSE OF STAIRS, and THE BRIMSTONE WEDDING, which is why I've re-read these books so many times. It's also a very interesting look at the relationships between women: mothers and daughters, sisters, aunts and nieces.
7/05/10: Time for my annual re-reading . . .
11/21/10: I took it very, very slowly, savoring a few pages most nights before bed, after I'd put aside whatever my current main book was. Was this the 12th or 13th reading, or the 14th? I can't honestly say. But I still turned the pages as eagerly as I did the first time.
12/08/11: Just finished re-reading my favorite book by my favorite author. I've had a bad case of "reader's block" for the past 2 months, only managed 2 books apiece in October and November - I hoped that re-reading ASTA'S BOOK would help me out of the reading doldrums - I resisted temptation a couple of weeks ago, only reading the opening page, but last week decided Oh well, what the heck. And I did get lost in its spell once again.
12/03/12: Just as good the 15th time. And a welcome relief from some of the gloomy stuff I'd been trying to read.
7/24/13: It's always interesting to get other readers' 'take' on a book - it's almost as thought they read a different book! Ironically, some of the things others had a problem with are the very things that so impress me about this book.
10/29/09 (approximate): This is my favorite novel by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine, and at this point just about my favorite novel, period. I recently finished reading it for the eleventh time. I much prefer the book's British title, ASTA'S BOOK, for a character's name definitely influences how you envision them.
A famous diary that may provide clues to a brutal murder, a present-day narrative by the diarist's grand-daughter, and a trial transcript - from these elements Rendell weaves together a spellbinding narrative about the search for identity. In doing so she creates a world and characters that I hate to leave behind, as she also does in A DARK-ADAPTED EYE, A FATAL INVERSION, THE HOUSE OF STAIRS, and THE BRIMSTONE WEDDING, which is why I've re-read these books so many times. It's also a very interesting look at the relationships between women: mothers and daughters, sisters, aunts and nieces.
7/05/10: Time for my annual re-reading . . .
11/21/10: I took it very, very slowly, savoring a few pages most nights before bed, after I'd put aside whatever my current main book was. Was this the 12th or 13th reading, or the 14th? I can't honestly say. But I still turned the pages as eagerly as I did the first time.
12/08/11: Just finished re-reading my favorite book by my favorite author. I've had a bad case of "reader's block" for the past 2 months, only managed 2 books apiece in October and November - I hoped that re-reading ASTA'S BOOK would help me out of the reading doldrums - I resisted temptation a couple of weeks ago, only reading the opening page, but last week decided Oh well, what the heck. And I did get lost in its spell once again.
12/03/12: Just as good the 15th time. And a welcome relief from some of the gloomy stuff I'd been trying to read.
June 24, 2020
Ich bin ja seit meiner Autorinnenchallenge ein ausgewiesener Fan von Barbara Vine, die eigentlich Ruth Rendell heißt (beziehungsweise hieß, denn sie ist 2015 verstorben) und die ihre psychologischen Thriller unter diesem Pseudonym verfasste. Die Geschichte – von Thriller war für mich diesmal keine Spur – plätscherte mir aber dann viel zu gemächlich, zu breit ausgewalzt und lang andauernd, gleichsam in Form eines englischen Weinbergschneckenrennens dahin (die gibt’s wirklich, guckt Ihr hier). Bedauerlicherweise kam dabei dann auch öfter Langeweile auf und das ist für mich die erste und zentrale literarische Todsünde.
Dabei ist der Roman in gewohnt sprachlicher Qualität und auch prinzipiell vom Plot her ausgezeichnet konzipiert. Ann Eastbruck erbt beim Tod ihrer Tante Swanney, die sehr erfolgreich als Herausgeberin die Tagebücher ihrer Mutter Asta verlegt hat, sowohl den Familienbesitz, als auch noch nicht veröffentlichte Werke. Von der Gegenwart aus wird in Rückblenden sowohl das Leben der Großmutter Asta, die aus Dänemark nach England emigrierte und einige Anpassungsschwierigkeiten hatte, als auch die ganze Geschichte von Swanney aufgerollt. Dabei mischen sich vor allem drei Handlungsebenen und Zeitstränge: die Originaleinträge aus Astas Tagebuch, Erzählungen über Swanneys Leben und Erinnerungen von Ann zu diesem Thema und zu guter Letzt auch noch die Recherche von Ann in der Gegenwart. Somit wird die ganze Familienbiografie von den Urgroßeltern seit dem Jahr 1905 bis in die Gegenwart episch sehr breit ausgewalzt.
Als zentrale Szene des Romans und eigentliches Thema gilt die Identitätssuche von Astas Lieblingstochter Swanney, die durch einen sehr beleidigenden anonymen Brief darauf aufmerksam gemacht wird, dass sie möglicherweise nicht die leibliche Tochter ihrer Mutter sein könnte. Asta schweigt zu den Vorhaltungen und bohrenden Fragen ihrer Tochter und ergeht sich in nebulöser Hinhaltetaktik, Ausweichmanövern und genervten Nicht-Antworten, da sie überhaupt nicht verstehen will, warum Swanney, die sich im bereits im reifen Alter von etwa 50 Jahren befindet, unbedingt ihre Wurzeln kennenlernen will. Swanney ist verzweifelt, als ihr das Fundament ihrer Herkunft entzogen wird. Als ihre Mutter stirbt, sucht sie nach Hinweisen für ihre brennende Lebensfrage und entdeckt die Tagebücher, die sie nach dem Tod ihres Mannes und im fortgeschrittenen Alter noch zur erfolgreichen Herausgeberin machen. Leider fehlen im Tagebuch ungefähr sechs Seiten, die irgendjemand herausgerissen hat. Ann spekuliert, dass es Swanney war, die ihre wahre Herkunft nicht ertragen konnte, aber es könnte auch Asta gewesen sein.
Ann macht sich nach dem Tod ihrer Tante erneut auf die bereits erkaltete Spur der ungesicherten Herkunft. Dabei stellen sich viele ungelöste Fragen: Ist Swanney möglicherweise die ungefähr zum Zeitpunkt ihrer Geburt verschwundene Edith Roper und hat Alfred Roper Ediths Mutter umgebracht? Wohin ist Edith verschwunden, lebt sie, oder ist sie auch tot und die Leiche wurde gut beseitigt? Oder hatte Asta gar keine Fehlgeburt, Swanney ist tatsächlich ihre Tochter und sie hat den anonymen Brief selbst geschrieben? Wer hat den Brief überhaupt geschrieben? Diese Fragen werden in mühevoller Kleinarbeit rekonstruiert und leider mit viel zu viel ausladendem Familientratsch und für die Haupthandlung unnötigen biografischen Gschichtln garniert.
Das Ende, das bedauerlicherweise erst nach diesem elendslangen, mehr als fünfhundert Seiten dauernden Plot mit der gesamten, in fast allen Petitessen geschilderten Familienchronik in Sicht ist, überrascht auf den letzten Seiten doch sehr, denn die wahre Geschichte von Astas Tochter ist völlig anders, als die Familienmitglieder bisher geglaubt haben. Als die vermissten Seiten endlich zufällig in der Gegenwart auftauchen, dreht sich die Handlung noch einmal und im Plot kommt erstmals Spannung auf. Diese Wendung kommt aber für die Schnecke viel zu spät, sie ist schon so erschöpft und genervt, dass sie es nicht mehr genießen kann 😉.
Fazit: Eine zu langatmige, zu episch breite Familiengeschichte mit zu viel unnötigem Beiwerk, der eine Kürzung von mindestens zweihundert Seiten und eine Konzentration auf die Haupthandlung, nämlich Swanneys Herkunft, gutgetan hätte. Der Roman ist zwar prinzipiell gut, aber ich hätte gerne bitte viel weniger davon.
Dabei ist der Roman in gewohnt sprachlicher Qualität und auch prinzipiell vom Plot her ausgezeichnet konzipiert. Ann Eastbruck erbt beim Tod ihrer Tante Swanney, die sehr erfolgreich als Herausgeberin die Tagebücher ihrer Mutter Asta verlegt hat, sowohl den Familienbesitz, als auch noch nicht veröffentlichte Werke. Von der Gegenwart aus wird in Rückblenden sowohl das Leben der Großmutter Asta, die aus Dänemark nach England emigrierte und einige Anpassungsschwierigkeiten hatte, als auch die ganze Geschichte von Swanney aufgerollt. Dabei mischen sich vor allem drei Handlungsebenen und Zeitstränge: die Originaleinträge aus Astas Tagebuch, Erzählungen über Swanneys Leben und Erinnerungen von Ann zu diesem Thema und zu guter Letzt auch noch die Recherche von Ann in der Gegenwart. Somit wird die ganze Familienbiografie von den Urgroßeltern seit dem Jahr 1905 bis in die Gegenwart episch sehr breit ausgewalzt.
Als zentrale Szene des Romans und eigentliches Thema gilt die Identitätssuche von Astas Lieblingstochter Swanney, die durch einen sehr beleidigenden anonymen Brief darauf aufmerksam gemacht wird, dass sie möglicherweise nicht die leibliche Tochter ihrer Mutter sein könnte. Asta schweigt zu den Vorhaltungen und bohrenden Fragen ihrer Tochter und ergeht sich in nebulöser Hinhaltetaktik, Ausweichmanövern und genervten Nicht-Antworten, da sie überhaupt nicht verstehen will, warum Swanney, die sich im bereits im reifen Alter von etwa 50 Jahren befindet, unbedingt ihre Wurzeln kennenlernen will. Swanney ist verzweifelt, als ihr das Fundament ihrer Herkunft entzogen wird. Als ihre Mutter stirbt, sucht sie nach Hinweisen für ihre brennende Lebensfrage und entdeckt die Tagebücher, die sie nach dem Tod ihres Mannes und im fortgeschrittenen Alter noch zur erfolgreichen Herausgeberin machen. Leider fehlen im Tagebuch ungefähr sechs Seiten, die irgendjemand herausgerissen hat. Ann spekuliert, dass es Swanney war, die ihre wahre Herkunft nicht ertragen konnte, aber es könnte auch Asta gewesen sein.
Ann macht sich nach dem Tod ihrer Tante erneut auf die bereits erkaltete Spur der ungesicherten Herkunft. Dabei stellen sich viele ungelöste Fragen: Ist Swanney möglicherweise die ungefähr zum Zeitpunkt ihrer Geburt verschwundene Edith Roper und hat Alfred Roper Ediths Mutter umgebracht? Wohin ist Edith verschwunden, lebt sie, oder ist sie auch tot und die Leiche wurde gut beseitigt? Oder hatte Asta gar keine Fehlgeburt, Swanney ist tatsächlich ihre Tochter und sie hat den anonymen Brief selbst geschrieben? Wer hat den Brief überhaupt geschrieben? Diese Fragen werden in mühevoller Kleinarbeit rekonstruiert und leider mit viel zu viel ausladendem Familientratsch und für die Haupthandlung unnötigen biografischen Gschichtln garniert.
Das Ende, das bedauerlicherweise erst nach diesem elendslangen, mehr als fünfhundert Seiten dauernden Plot mit der gesamten, in fast allen Petitessen geschilderten Familienchronik in Sicht ist, überrascht auf den letzten Seiten doch sehr, denn die wahre Geschichte von Astas Tochter ist völlig anders, als die Familienmitglieder bisher geglaubt haben. Als die vermissten Seiten endlich zufällig in der Gegenwart auftauchen, dreht sich die Handlung noch einmal und im Plot kommt erstmals Spannung auf. Diese Wendung kommt aber für die Schnecke viel zu spät, sie ist schon so erschöpft und genervt, dass sie es nicht mehr genießen kann 😉.
Fazit: Eine zu langatmige, zu episch breite Familiengeschichte mit zu viel unnötigem Beiwerk, der eine Kürzung von mindestens zweihundert Seiten und eine Konzentration auf die Haupthandlung, nämlich Swanneys Herkunft, gutgetan hätte. Der Roman ist zwar prinzipiell gut, aber ich hätte gerne bitte viel weniger davon.
June 26, 2012
While this book does have the clever plotting, twists and turns, I've come to expect of a Barbara Vine title, somehow it just didn't have the same force for me. Perhaps it seemed to go on too long, to have too many red herrings. Yes I did enjoy the unwinding of the diary and current day story, but it all seemed just too much story. (Or it could be me... my initial reading was quite broken up, only continuous at the end.)
I won't let this stop me from trying more Vine stories on for size as I've been very pleased with the others I've read. I also seem to be a bit below the average in my view of this one so....take it for what it's worth.
I won't let this stop me from trying more Vine stories on for size as I've been very pleased with the others I've read. I also seem to be a bit below the average in my view of this one so....take it for what it's worth.
October 12, 2016
É um livro escrito por Ruth Rendell e pouco mais há para dizer…
Uma escritora de policiais (sempre originais e surpreendentes) pouco dada à descrição de assassínios sangrentos, cometidos por psicopatas, e mais aos "deslizes criminais" das pessoas comuns.
Não dou as cinco estrelas apenas porque as reservo para aqueles livros que em momento algum me aborrecem e O Diário de Asta tem cerca de meia dúzia de páginas de um julgamento, com os respetivos discursos dos advogados, assunto que me enfada muito.
Uma escritora de policiais (sempre originais e surpreendentes) pouco dada à descrição de assassínios sangrentos, cometidos por psicopatas, e mais aos "deslizes criminais" das pessoas comuns.
Não dou as cinco estrelas apenas porque as reservo para aqueles livros que em momento algum me aborrecem e O Diário de Asta tem cerca de meia dúzia de páginas de um julgamento, com os respetivos discursos dos advogados, assunto que me enfada muito.
February 27, 2018
A lovely, rich, often complex historical mystery/family saga of which I'm tempted to say something like 'books like this don't get written anymore'; I'm sure they do, of course, they just rarely appear on my radar. But this one did, and for that I am thankful. it's a cosy book, something to abandon yourself to, and written with the same impeccable elegance that emanates from its main characters.
The book begins as the diary of Asta, a Danish woman whose husband's work has brought their family to London. Asta's account starts in 1905, and extracts from her diaries are intercut with the life of her granddaughter, Ann, in the late 1980s. By this point, Asta's diaries have been turned into a bestselling series of books, found and published by her eldest daughter, Ann's aunt, Swanny. Yet only now does Ann discover the diaries may hold the key to an unsolved murder. Questions also emerge around one character's parentage.
Asta's Book is absorbing, but quietly so; it encourages leisurely yet attentive reading, rather than the frantic page-turning that seems compulsory for mysteries now. This was a delightful change of pace for me.
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The book begins as the diary of Asta, a Danish woman whose husband's work has brought their family to London. Asta's account starts in 1905, and extracts from her diaries are intercut with the life of her granddaughter, Ann, in the late 1980s. By this point, Asta's diaries have been turned into a bestselling series of books, found and published by her eldest daughter, Ann's aunt, Swanny. Yet only now does Ann discover the diaries may hold the key to an unsolved murder. Questions also emerge around one character's parentage.
Asta's Book is absorbing, but quietly so; it encourages leisurely yet attentive reading, rather than the frantic page-turning that seems compulsory for mysteries now. This was a delightful change of pace for me.
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July 12, 2011
This is one of those rare gems of a book that I literally could not put down. Ever tried washing dishes with one hand so you could hold a book with your other hand? It's messy, but it can work.
Ruth Rendell (writing as Barbara Vine) is one of the most masterful storytellers of contemporary times. This novel is so carefully plotted, so meticulously -- and dare I say perfectly -- crafted that the sheer magnitude of what it must have taken Rendell to work out every small piece of the puzzle is just amazing. And Rendell's other strong suit is her uncanny insight into the psychology of her characters. They may not all be likeable, but at least we understand their motivations.
This was a quick read for me, but the story unfolded slowly. I was not immediately riveted by the first chapter -- interested, yes, but the pacing I thought was a bit slow. There were passages I at first dismissed as irrelevant, but boy was I wrong. I should know by now that nothing in a Ruth Rendell novel is irrelevant. Every word is weighted. Every word counts.
Also, there are a lot of characters to keep straight, and several times I had to flip back through already-read pages to remind myself of who was who. However, by the surprising (and satisfying) final chapter, I understood and appreciated why each of these many characters was included and was awed by how each one, no matter how "minor," was nothing less than essential to the story.
Of the story itself, I'll say little other than it contains lost (then found) diaries, a disappeared child, a murdered woman, and the narrative alternates between turn-of-the-century England and modern England. When I read the last line earlier this evening, I closed the book, then closed my eyes, exhaled, and experienced my favorite part of ending a great book: that moment of silence after the last word is read, that moment when the complete story "settles in." And then the wishing that I could read it again for the first time.
Ruth Rendell (writing as Barbara Vine) is one of the most masterful storytellers of contemporary times. This novel is so carefully plotted, so meticulously -- and dare I say perfectly -- crafted that the sheer magnitude of what it must have taken Rendell to work out every small piece of the puzzle is just amazing. And Rendell's other strong suit is her uncanny insight into the psychology of her characters. They may not all be likeable, but at least we understand their motivations.
This was a quick read for me, but the story unfolded slowly. I was not immediately riveted by the first chapter -- interested, yes, but the pacing I thought was a bit slow. There were passages I at first dismissed as irrelevant, but boy was I wrong. I should know by now that nothing in a Ruth Rendell novel is irrelevant. Every word is weighted. Every word counts.
Also, there are a lot of characters to keep straight, and several times I had to flip back through already-read pages to remind myself of who was who. However, by the surprising (and satisfying) final chapter, I understood and appreciated why each of these many characters was included and was awed by how each one, no matter how "minor," was nothing less than essential to the story.
Of the story itself, I'll say little other than it contains lost (then found) diaries, a disappeared child, a murdered woman, and the narrative alternates between turn-of-the-century England and modern England. When I read the last line earlier this evening, I closed the book, then closed my eyes, exhaled, and experienced my favorite part of ending a great book: that moment of silence after the last word is read, that moment when the complete story "settles in." And then the wishing that I could read it again for the first time.
October 16, 2016
Once again I try to read Ruth Rendell, this time in her guise as Barbara Vine. I wonder if there is something wrong with me? I just can't take to her writing in either personification. In this case I could not like Asta/Anna at all. I found her best selling book not credible and she came across cold, arrogant and cruel, apart from the early part of the book where she simply seemed unhappy and a bit spiteful.
Anyway, it hasn't changed my mind about the writing. I find Rendell somehow uninvolving and cold and drizzly.
Anyway, it hasn't changed my mind about the writing. I find Rendell somehow uninvolving and cold and drizzly.
September 2, 2011
Terribly boring and awfully hard work for a rather anticlimatic ending. Too much bleak social commentary and not enough story, which is fine but not on the fiction and entertainment shelves. Redeemed by some interesting thoughts.
Favourite quotes:
'Hope is a horrible thing, I don't know why these church people call it virtue, it is horrible because it is so often disappointed'. P.13
'Hope deferred may make the heart sick at first; later it leads only to boredom...Pleasire came later.Inquiring about its provenance came much later.' p.38
'1988. In our society, the extended family fast disappearing, one sees one's cousins only at funerals and then very likely fails to recognise them.' p.74
'Love hasn't much chance of survival in a relationship where one person is always telling the other one what to do and bullying and preaching.' p. 113
Favourite quotes:
'Hope is a horrible thing, I don't know why these church people call it virtue, it is horrible because it is so often disappointed'. P.13
'Hope deferred may make the heart sick at first; later it leads only to boredom...Pleasire came later.Inquiring about its provenance came much later.' p.38
'1988. In our society, the extended family fast disappearing, one sees one's cousins only at funerals and then very likely fails to recognise them.' p.74
'Love hasn't much chance of survival in a relationship where one person is always telling the other one what to do and bullying and preaching.' p. 113
September 10, 2009
I'm a person who really appreciates a complex, engrossing, multi-tiered plot filled with twists and turns and the happy prospect of thousands of pages to come. But sadly, Anna's Book seemed too long, and not in a good way. Too much time was spent on the boring and predictable story-within-a-story about the murder trial. I also was impatient with all the unrealistic hoopla over Anna's published diaries--they weren't that interesting, nor was she, or really, any of the other (too many) characters. And the twist at the end... eh. It was, all-in-all, a bit lackluster. Not bad, just not great.
November 24, 2017
I was recently nudged toward this book by another Goodreader’s excellent review. Apart from its rather complicated plot(s), expanding outward through three generations of a Danish family, between its transplantation to Britain shortly after 1900 and sometime around the 1980s or ’90s, it is a book about writing, retrospective interpretation of texts, and turning words into books (with nods toward the broader, changing complexities of that enterprise, which these days seems to have less to do with words on paper). It may be most satisfying for those interested in writing and reading; for those who chiefly prefer snappy whodunits, perhaps less so.
The reader reads several decades of the diaries that constitute “Asta’s Book,” salted, as it later turns out, with clues that at first are not read as clues in a grisly murder and in family mysteries that only emerge as mysteries for later generations. Readers also read about Asta’s offspring re-reading, translating, and editing Asta’s words for the wider literary world, in which she becomes something of a phenomenon. Asta’s children and grandchildren also begin to question what she might have been saying between the lines (not to mention on half-a-dozen missing pages, mysteriously ripped out of an early volume, at a critical moment). The temporal and generational shifts, sometimes in mid-chapter, require paying more than indolent attention to avoid confusion. One may hear about certain events multiple times (e.g., Mogen’s death) as different generations of Asta’s family cover the same ground. In some (but not all) cases this begins to make more sense after the grisly murder intrudes on the plot about ¼ of the way through the book and comes to dominate much of the rest.
Vine’s research seems meticulous. (Thanks to Google Maps, one could even follow family removals from one address to another and, in some cases, on walks from one significant location [or crime scene] to another.) Late Victorian interiors look right and the challenges of living in them in the days before modern conveniences sound convincing. Sometimes Vine’s historical recreation is almost too good: she includes, for example, a full “transcription” of a 50-page (in the large print edition) 1950s monograph, in determinedly academic prose, about the grisly murder and its prosecution, in which no detail is too insignificant to be included. Faced with that level of writerly “authenticity,” I began reading only every other paragraph.
It was not a book that I couldn’t put down (which made sorting it all out a bit more challenging). But once the most careful readers from later generations of Asta’s family began to interpret and make sense of what Asta had been saying between the lines more than half-a-century before, it became engaging. (3.5 *, rounded up)
The reader reads several decades of the diaries that constitute “Asta’s Book,” salted, as it later turns out, with clues that at first are not read as clues in a grisly murder and in family mysteries that only emerge as mysteries for later generations. Readers also read about Asta’s offspring re-reading, translating, and editing Asta’s words for the wider literary world, in which she becomes something of a phenomenon. Asta’s children and grandchildren also begin to question what she might have been saying between the lines (not to mention on half-a-dozen missing pages, mysteriously ripped out of an early volume, at a critical moment). The temporal and generational shifts, sometimes in mid-chapter, require paying more than indolent attention to avoid confusion. One may hear about certain events multiple times (e.g., Mogen’s death) as different generations of Asta’s family cover the same ground. In some (but not all) cases this begins to make more sense after the grisly murder intrudes on the plot about ¼ of the way through the book and comes to dominate much of the rest.
Vine’s research seems meticulous. (Thanks to Google Maps, one could even follow family removals from one address to another and, in some cases, on walks from one significant location [or crime scene] to another.) Late Victorian interiors look right and the challenges of living in them in the days before modern conveniences sound convincing. Sometimes Vine’s historical recreation is almost too good: she includes, for example, a full “transcription” of a 50-page (in the large print edition) 1950s monograph, in determinedly academic prose, about the grisly murder and its prosecution, in which no detail is too insignificant to be included. Faced with that level of writerly “authenticity,” I began reading only every other paragraph.
It was not a book that I couldn’t put down (which made sorting it all out a bit more challenging). But once the most careful readers from later generations of Asta’s family began to interpret and make sense of what Asta had been saying between the lines more than half-a-century before, it became engaging. (3.5 *, rounded up)
November 6, 2021
This the first "Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine" novel I've read (after reading two Inspector Wexford novels and two stand-alone ones under her name). Some folks speculate that Rendell wrote under the Vine pseudonym to exercise her more literary ambitions and it's easy to see why given this example. It's less a mystery than historical fiction of the sprawling family saga variety, but the plot is driven by the mysteries of an old unsolved murder, a disappeared child, and the resulting doubts of a major character about her own identity. Thematically Anna's Book is the best Rendell I've read yet, the most rich, ranging from a examination of the lives and status of women of the lower- and middle-classes in turn-of-the-century England, to a fascination with texts, with the production and interpretation of texts, with details of the publishing industry thrown-in for good measure. Rendell's psychological acuity in developing her characters is in full display and the plotting is her tightest. She actually tosses more twists and turns at you than in one of her mysteries; just when you think you've figured it out, it goes somewhere else. But none of them feel "out of left field" because the character development and closely detailed plot make them seem credible and, in retrospect, practically inevitable. This is clearly the best Rendell novel I've read yet. I'm tempted to call this a classic, certainly a must-read; 5 of 5 stars.
July 10, 2024
What a convoluted mess of a story this became. The speculations became endless, as did the assumptions.
“But perhaps she told Hansine…”
“This presumably refers to the fact…”
“It’s possible, you know…”
“Suppose Florence was different…”
I did a couple of word searches. The word “perhaps” appeared 126 times, and “suppose” was used 131 times.
The entire time I was reading this I was thinking “Where is this story going, and when will it ever end?”
NOTE: The story opens very promisingly and I enjoyed Chapter 1 enormously. Then the author violently shifts gears and the story occurring in 1905 is left in the dust, along with its 5 main characters. In Chapter 2 the story moves to 1988, and we are introduced to 23 new characters mentioned either by name or by relationship. (I don’t count those mentioned by description only.) PHEW!
Some of these characters are important to the story, some not at all. Good luck keeping track of everyone. I hope you have word search!
“But perhaps she told Hansine…”
“This presumably refers to the fact…”
“It’s possible, you know…”
“Suppose Florence was different…”
I did a couple of word searches. The word “perhaps” appeared 126 times, and “suppose” was used 131 times.
The entire time I was reading this I was thinking “Where is this story going, and when will it ever end?”
NOTE: The story opens very promisingly and I enjoyed Chapter 1 enormously. Then the author violently shifts gears and the story occurring in 1905 is left in the dust, along with its 5 main characters. In Chapter 2 the story moves to 1988, and we are introduced to 23 new characters mentioned either by name or by relationship. (I don’t count those mentioned by description only.) PHEW!
Some of these characters are important to the story, some not at all. Good luck keeping track of everyone. I hope you have word search!
October 29, 2011
Asta's book is classic Barbara Vine and I loved it almost as much as No Night is Too Long and A Dark Adapted Eye.
I just feel compelled to ask why on earth was Asta's name changed ??? And was some one employed to go through the whole book editing the change ? Or did American readers open the first page and then find out the name was wrong ? What a perfectly senseless thing to do...I do not believe that American Barbara Vine readers, or anyone else for that matter would not buy a book because the title used a slightly unusual woman's name .................
I just feel compelled to ask why on earth was Asta's name changed ??? And was some one employed to go through the whole book editing the change ? Or did American readers open the first page and then find out the name was wrong ? What a perfectly senseless thing to do...I do not believe that American Barbara Vine readers, or anyone else for that matter would not buy a book because the title used a slightly unusual woman's name .................
January 16, 2014
I am definitely a Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell fan but this is my least favorite book thus far. It was rather slow in pacing (not sure there was any). For me, the fast amount of characters were confusing to track. I completed the book and the revealing of "whodunit" was much anticipated.
December 10, 2009
I came across an old list of reading recommendations a few weeks ago and requested a few of them from the library. I love that service. I go online, find the books I'm looking for, and they deliver them to the library a couple of block away. Brilliant.
Anyway, I had long forgotten why the book was recommended, but I do know I shared a similar literary sensibility with the long ago list-provider, so I added it to the roster of requests. Kitty, you were absolutely right, it's a book worth recommending.
It seems the book's title has changed at some point from Asta's Book to Anna's Book -- don't let this confuse or stop you. Don't let the lame book description stop you either, it's actually a very good read.
I almost gave up on the book very near the beginning due to confusion with the use of names and pronouns (which "she" are they referring to?!). Note: I'm not one to read books that require a diagram'd family tree to keep the players straight. Once I got clear that Asta is in fact Mormor (the Danish name for one's maternal grandmother) and Rasmus is also Morfar (how the Danish refer to one's maternal grandfather), things flowed much more smoothly.
In fact, I had a hard time putting the book down. It flows between the diary author's thoughts and the granddaughter's narrative, slowly but surely peeling back and deepening the mystery and its aftermath, many, many years later. And each time you think you are near to unraveling the puzzle, the red herring is exposed while you are teased into continuing in the journey for truth.
I enjoyed the insight into that era, early 1900's as an immigrant to England. Even more so, I enjoyed the unapologetic and honest perspective of the diarist with her lack of emotion and at times harsh and critical view of life and those around her. She is not without love and not vicious. Simply free to express her true feelings in a diary she expects no one will ever read.
The players of the past entwine, as do the characters of the present, to a surprising as well as plausible conclusion. I love a well-spun story and this deliciously fits the bill. I became engrossed and found I very much wanted to learn the truth along with the granddaughter.
I am satiated. I may need to rest before I pick up another novel.
Anyway, I had long forgotten why the book was recommended, but I do know I shared a similar literary sensibility with the long ago list-provider, so I added it to the roster of requests. Kitty, you were absolutely right, it's a book worth recommending.
It seems the book's title has changed at some point from Asta's Book to Anna's Book -- don't let this confuse or stop you. Don't let the lame book description stop you either, it's actually a very good read.
I almost gave up on the book very near the beginning due to confusion with the use of names and pronouns (which "she" are they referring to?!). Note: I'm not one to read books that require a diagram'd family tree to keep the players straight. Once I got clear that Asta is in fact Mormor (the Danish name for one's maternal grandmother) and Rasmus is also Morfar (how the Danish refer to one's maternal grandfather), things flowed much more smoothly.
In fact, I had a hard time putting the book down. It flows between the diary author's thoughts and the granddaughter's narrative, slowly but surely peeling back and deepening the mystery and its aftermath, many, many years later. And each time you think you are near to unraveling the puzzle, the red herring is exposed while you are teased into continuing in the journey for truth.
I enjoyed the insight into that era, early 1900's as an immigrant to England. Even more so, I enjoyed the unapologetic and honest perspective of the diarist with her lack of emotion and at times harsh and critical view of life and those around her. She is not without love and not vicious. Simply free to express her true feelings in a diary she expects no one will ever read.
The players of the past entwine, as do the characters of the present, to a surprising as well as plausible conclusion. I love a well-spun story and this deliciously fits the bill. I became engrossed and found I very much wanted to learn the truth along with the granddaughter.
I am satiated. I may need to rest before I pick up another novel.
December 24, 2011
You could say that I would HAVE to like this book. It's Ruth Rendell. It takes place in the UK. It starts in the Edwardian period, a historical setting I just love. And many of the characters are from Denmark. (I had a Swedish great-grandmother, so Scandinavian countries interest me.)
The main character, Asta, puts the lie to the idea that all people (especially women) in the olden days were nice, sweet, submitted willingly to their husbands, and wanted lots of children. Asta was pretty cool - in her diary, she admits that she didn't want to have so many kids, and her husband wasn't her choice. Asta is smart and thinks for herself. She isn't always a nice person - she plays a cruel trick on the child who is supposedly her favorite. But other than that, I like her.
I also like the narrator, Ann; and kudos to Rendell for having a character in her late 40s/early 50s who has a serious romance leading to a first marriage. The story also has 2 female friends who have a falling out over a man, then later reconcile - having figured out that they like each other better than either one of them liked him.
All in all, very good story.
The main character, Asta, puts the lie to the idea that all people (especially women) in the olden days were nice, sweet, submitted willingly to their husbands, and wanted lots of children. Asta was pretty cool - in her diary, she admits that she didn't want to have so many kids, and her husband wasn't her choice. Asta is smart and thinks for herself. She isn't always a nice person - she plays a cruel trick on the child who is supposedly her favorite. But other than that, I like her.
I also like the narrator, Ann; and kudos to Rendell for having a character in her late 40s/early 50s who has a serious romance leading to a first marriage. The story also has 2 female friends who have a falling out over a man, then later reconcile - having figured out that they like each other better than either one of them liked him.
All in all, very good story.
April 15, 2010
Whoa, I so did not see that coming.
The first Vine book I read was The Blood Doctor and while I could figure out where the book was going, it was still compelling.
This book is great. You think you have it figured out, then you're wrong. Then you think "aha", but still no.
My only quibble is that three of the chapters were rather, well, dry. I understand why they were dry (it was trial transcripts), but still.
Awesome. Vine does a really good job with the character of Ann. The behavior fits and some of the dialogue is wonderfully done.
The first Vine book I read was The Blood Doctor and while I could figure out where the book was going, it was still compelling.
This book is great. You think you have it figured out, then you're wrong. Then you think "aha", but still no.
My only quibble is that three of the chapters were rather, well, dry. I understand why they were dry (it was trial transcripts), but still.
Awesome. Vine does a really good job with the character of Ann. The behavior fits and some of the dialogue is wonderfully done.
December 13, 2011
No Detective, Inspector, Constables or Policeman. No Attorney's, forensic experts, disputed wills or DNA tests. No psychopaths, sociopaths, serial killers or degenerates. No robbery, heist, beating, rape, homophobia or child molestation.
Just a diary, an unromantic women, an old murder and a great story.
Just a diary, an unromantic women, an old murder and a great story.
December 29, 2017
I wish I could give this more than 3 stars, because on the whole I really enjoyed it. I was engrossed by the story and by the mystery it offered, and I loved the ending. But there were two points when the author seemed to go so far from the main story that I got bored and started questioning which story they were actually trying to tell. I hoped that by the end the incredibly long detours would make sense, but I still cannot see how the 60 page account of something the protagonist was researching was warranted. This and another, slightly shorter, detour broke the flow of the story and were hard to persist through.
September 16, 2020
From September 2012 — It is 1905 and Asta Westerby and her husband Rasmus have just moved to England from Denmark with their two boys. A third child on the way, and Asta dearly hopes for a girl. Asta tells her story through a series of journals, in which she writes sporadically about various events, describing her family life; her marriage, her children, her maid, which make up her whole universe. Asta has an independent spirit and isn't necessarily cut out to be a wife and mother, but she accepts her lot because other alternatives don't seem appealing or feasible.
But this is only part of the stor; other part takes place in a contemporary setting, sometime in the 90s, when this book was published. Asta's granddaughter Ann has come into her inheritance now that her aunt Swanny has passed away. Swanny was Asta's favourite child and having discovered her mother's journals after her passing, decided to have them translated and published with tremendous success. Now Ann is responsible for the manuscripts and intends to continue publishing additional volumes. But there are various mysteries to be found, in what have become historical artifacts. Swanny was never able to learn the truth about her true identity after receiving an anonymous letter telling her she was not in fact Asta's child, something which Asta herself refused to confirm on way or another. Is the answer to be found in one of the volumes? But there are also mentions about a horrible crime which was a sensation in it's time, with Alfred Roper accused of murdering his wife and the disappearance of their young toddler Lizzie. Was Swanny that Roper child? And if not, what happened to Lizzie? These are questions which Ann and a friend producing a movie about the murder mystery are out to solve.
The premise of this novel seemed interesting, but I found the story confusing, with two seemingly completely separate stories and families that had nothing in common somehow connected in a way which is only revealed at the very end. It might benefit from a second reading. Then again, perhaps my mind is too muddled to understand a plot which doesn't follow a familiar narrative style. I also kept wondering why Asta's journals had become such hugely successful books, as they didn't make for gripping reading on their own. Don't let my confused ramblings about this book influence you though, it seems to have met with a lot of appreciation with other readers.
But this is only part of the stor; other part takes place in a contemporary setting, sometime in the 90s, when this book was published. Asta's granddaughter Ann has come into her inheritance now that her aunt Swanny has passed away. Swanny was Asta's favourite child and having discovered her mother's journals after her passing, decided to have them translated and published with tremendous success. Now Ann is responsible for the manuscripts and intends to continue publishing additional volumes. But there are various mysteries to be found, in what have become historical artifacts. Swanny was never able to learn the truth about her true identity after receiving an anonymous letter telling her she was not in fact Asta's child, something which Asta herself refused to confirm on way or another. Is the answer to be found in one of the volumes? But there are also mentions about a horrible crime which was a sensation in it's time, with Alfred Roper accused of murdering his wife and the disappearance of their young toddler Lizzie. Was Swanny that Roper child? And if not, what happened to Lizzie? These are questions which Ann and a friend producing a movie about the murder mystery are out to solve.
The premise of this novel seemed interesting, but I found the story confusing, with two seemingly completely separate stories and families that had nothing in common somehow connected in a way which is only revealed at the very end. It might benefit from a second reading. Then again, perhaps my mind is too muddled to understand a plot which doesn't follow a familiar narrative style. I also kept wondering why Asta's journals had become such hugely successful books, as they didn't make for gripping reading on their own. Don't let my confused ramblings about this book influence you though, it seems to have met with a lot of appreciation with other readers.
July 3, 2017
As most of my GR Friends know, I am an avid reader of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine's books. It is a rarity that she would not delight me and fill me with admiration. This however, is one of those exceptions. It certainly is not because this is one of her earlier books (1993), for many of them have passed my inspection. I was able to continue to respect her skill in penning her thoughts and her descriptions.
My major problem with Anna's Book is that it is just too long and rambling. Because of this and the system of going back and forth in time with different characters, it was difficult to sustain interest and focus on the mysteries therein. It was also problematic to keep track of the many characters introduced throughout the novel. I frequently had to revert to previous pages to refresh my memory. So, while this tale had the earmarks of an interesting mystery, it did not meet my expectations for a book written by this author.
My major problem with Anna's Book is that it is just too long and rambling. Because of this and the system of going back and forth in time with different characters, it was difficult to sustain interest and focus on the mysteries therein. It was also problematic to keep track of the many characters introduced throughout the novel. I frequently had to revert to previous pages to refresh my memory. So, while this tale had the earmarks of an interesting mystery, it did not meet my expectations for a book written by this author.
March 8, 2013
I've just finished reading Asta's Book for the second time. What prompted me to re-read it was my disappointment with The child's child, which I read last week.
On the surface, they are the same kind of book, which prompted the comparison. It is a genre that has been made popular by Robert Goddard -- a mystery in the past that has repercussions for people in the present. I found The child's child unsatisfactory and unsatisfying. I had started if with the hope of finding something as good as Asta's Book, but it wasn't. And then I wondered whether Asta's Book was as good as I remembered it? So I decided to re-read it and see.
I found it was even better than I remembered it, so I upped its rating from four stars to five. It had none of the faults that so disappointed me in The child's child. There, the past and present stories were not integrated at all, and had only the most tenuous connection between them. The characters were cardboard cut-outs, and they seemed to change every chapter for no discernable reason.
In Asta's book the characters were consistent. Yes, they changed over a lifetime, and of course they were not the same at age 75 as they were at 25, but despite the changes, there was a person there. The story in the past was well integrated with the one in the present, and the plot twists made sense.
The child's child looked even worse, by contrast. It reads like the early drafts of the first chapters in a thesis submitted by one of my students, where I would point out some of the things that needed improvement, and would say, "It reads like notes for a thesis, not like a thesis. Each paragraph has a separate piece of information, culled from a source, but you have not shown how it links to what goes before and what follows after. There is no argumentation, no thread that leads to a conclusion." And that is how The child's child reads -- like notes for a novel, rather than an actual novel. With the thesis the student would rewrite the chapter, and it would be an improvement, until eventually it was polished enough to submit for evaluation. But surely Ruth Rendell (writing as Barbara Vine has an editor who can perform a similar function the the promoter of a thesis, and point out some of the weak links and plot holes.
I enjoyed Asta's Book even more the second time around. In part its appeal is that it is not only a whodunit, dealing with a cold (very cold!) case of murder and a missing child, but it is also a mystery of family history, which is one of my own hobbies. I enjoy reading about family history mysteries in fiction because I enjoy trying to solve them in real life, well, perhaps not quite real life, because most of the people involved are dead.
On the surface, they are the same kind of book, which prompted the comparison. It is a genre that has been made popular by Robert Goddard -- a mystery in the past that has repercussions for people in the present. I found The child's child unsatisfactory and unsatisfying. I had started if with the hope of finding something as good as Asta's Book, but it wasn't. And then I wondered whether Asta's Book was as good as I remembered it? So I decided to re-read it and see.
I found it was even better than I remembered it, so I upped its rating from four stars to five. It had none of the faults that so disappointed me in The child's child. There, the past and present stories were not integrated at all, and had only the most tenuous connection between them. The characters were cardboard cut-outs, and they seemed to change every chapter for no discernable reason.
In Asta's book the characters were consistent. Yes, they changed over a lifetime, and of course they were not the same at age 75 as they were at 25, but despite the changes, there was a person there. The story in the past was well integrated with the one in the present, and the plot twists made sense.
The child's child looked even worse, by contrast. It reads like the early drafts of the first chapters in a thesis submitted by one of my students, where I would point out some of the things that needed improvement, and would say, "It reads like notes for a thesis, not like a thesis. Each paragraph has a separate piece of information, culled from a source, but you have not shown how it links to what goes before and what follows after. There is no argumentation, no thread that leads to a conclusion." And that is how The child's child reads -- like notes for a novel, rather than an actual novel. With the thesis the student would rewrite the chapter, and it would be an improvement, until eventually it was polished enough to submit for evaluation. But surely Ruth Rendell (writing as Barbara Vine has an editor who can perform a similar function the the promoter of a thesis, and point out some of the weak links and plot holes.
I enjoyed Asta's Book even more the second time around. In part its appeal is that it is not only a whodunit, dealing with a cold (very cold!) case of murder and a missing child, but it is also a mystery of family history, which is one of my own hobbies. I enjoy reading about family history mysteries in fiction because I enjoy trying to solve them in real life, well, perhaps not quite real life, because most of the people involved are dead.
July 12, 2020
This is another situation in which I wish Goodreads let you give half stars, bc this is more 3.5 stars for me than 4, but I'll go with 4 over 3 because it's Barbara Vine. Barbara Vine wrote one of my all time favorite novels, A Dark Adapted Eye. She's a master plotter. I'd teach her in an English literature class were I in that field. This book also had a miraculous plot which has turns it in you'd never see coming in a million years, involving a genealogical mystery that comes together in a genius way. However, where it lost me, so much so that I almost quit reading it, was the endless. endless. stretch in the middle involving the Alfred Roper murder. Including like the court stenographer's notes from a trial that happened almost a hundred years ago. Like, why a genius writer would choose to slow down the book to a snails pace and rid herself of all the talent and ability of her language so she could laboriously type out the exact notes from an Edwardian murder trial, in which things like how many times the prosecution sneezed are mentioned, is beyond me. It was so laborious to get through that for the rest of the novel whenever the name 'Roper' came up, I wanted to scream just because I was so afraid it would devolve into another hundred pages of Alfred Roper newspaper articles or something. My other beef is that Asta is supposed to have become one of the most famous writers and people in the world because of her diaries and...I never really understood why. Like Vine herself is a great writer but Asta's diaries did not seem especially interesting to me. Like why did the ramblings of this low key Danish sociopath who had four kids and never did much with her life or have a great love affair or anything become the world's obsession? This often bugs me in novels where a character or work is supposed to be super famous. The Thirteenth Tale was extremely guilty of this problem. However, I did not see the end coming at all and was very fascinated by the rest of the story once the Roper trial was behind me.
May 25, 2010
This was on the shelf of the house we rented in Santa Fe. When it was time to leave, I was only half-way through. Tragedy! I contemplated "accidentally" packing it, but am happy to report that I remained honest.
Thanks to the library at home, I got to finish. This is a strange, interesting book. Anna, the diary-keeper, is enigmatic, unlikeable, and frustrating. She takes long walks on Hampstead Heath, lies to her children, and bullies her maid. But hers is only half the story.
Though a grisly murder and disappearance is at the heart of the story, around which several plots turn, this isn't a mystery, or a thriller.
A mix of diaries, Denmark, identity, madness, history, and coincidence. I can't separate out one thread that overwhelmingly defines the story, only that I always wanted to keep reading.
UPDATE: Several reviewers have complained about the 'dry' chapters on the murder trial. I thought that was one of the most engrossing parts. Different strokes...
Thanks to the library at home, I got to finish. This is a strange, interesting book. Anna, the diary-keeper, is enigmatic, unlikeable, and frustrating. She takes long walks on Hampstead Heath, lies to her children, and bullies her maid. But hers is only half the story.
Though a grisly murder and disappearance is at the heart of the story, around which several plots turn, this isn't a mystery, or a thriller.
A mix of diaries, Denmark, identity, madness, history, and coincidence. I can't separate out one thread that overwhelmingly defines the story, only that I always wanted to keep reading.
UPDATE: Several reviewers have complained about the 'dry' chapters on the murder trial. I thought that was one of the most engrossing parts. Different strokes...
July 30, 2012
An excellent book to read, especially if you like diaries. Even better to listen to because there are so many Danish phrases and sentences that you have to get translated, while the way she reads it you can understand it within the context of the rest of the paragraphs. Some of the sayings are translated.
It's the story of a niece telling the story of her Aunt and her grandma Asta's years in England. It has a couple of mysteries, and a missing person and a death or two.
My favorite book in 2010. I borrowed it from the library, purchased it from Audible and would love to own a first edition. I've got my bookie searching for me.
It's the story of a niece telling the story of her Aunt and her grandma Asta's years in England. It has a couple of mysteries, and a missing person and a death or two.
My favorite book in 2010. I borrowed it from the library, purchased it from Audible and would love to own a first edition. I've got my bookie searching for me.
June 14, 2016
This really is a 5 star book - I think it will be among the best books I've read this year. I shall write more in due course.
April 25, 2023
I stopped reading ... slow, slow, slow ... nothing happens ... no promise of anything going to happen ...
October 7, 2023
Het komt een beetje lastig op gang, maar zit toch wel erg ingenieus in elkaar.
Asta Westerby woont in 1905 in Londen, met haar man Rasmus en hun kinderen. Ze zijn Deens, en vooral Asta vindt het moeilijk om zich aan te passen. Ze houdt een dagboek bij, dat decennia later zal worden uitgegeven door haar dochter Swanny.
Ondertussen komt er een anonieme brief die beweert dat Swanny niet de dochter is van haar ouders, en is er ook nog een mogelijke connectie met een moord in 1905.
In de jaren '80 probeert een kleindochter van Asta al deze raadsels op te lossen, en komen uiteindelijk alle draadjes bij elkaar. Hoe precies blijft tot de laatste bladzijde onduidelijk.
Sfeervol en uitstekend opgebouwd.
Asta Westerby woont in 1905 in Londen, met haar man Rasmus en hun kinderen. Ze zijn Deens, en vooral Asta vindt het moeilijk om zich aan te passen. Ze houdt een dagboek bij, dat decennia later zal worden uitgegeven door haar dochter Swanny.
Ondertussen komt er een anonieme brief die beweert dat Swanny niet de dochter is van haar ouders, en is er ook nog een mogelijke connectie met een moord in 1905.
In de jaren '80 probeert een kleindochter van Asta al deze raadsels op te lossen, en komen uiteindelijk alle draadjes bij elkaar. Hoe precies blijft tot de laatste bladzijde onduidelijk.
Sfeervol en uitstekend opgebouwd.
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