Painting Ruby Tuesday

by Jane Yardley

Painting Ruby Tuesday is a blackly comic, evocative, and charming novel set against the soundtrack of the sixties. It is about a ten-year-old girl who sabotages a murder enquiry, and the effects of the event that she must deal with as an adult.

Genres: Fiction

359 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2003

About the author

Jane Yardley is an English author, raised in a village in 1960s Essex. She went to university in London and gained a Ph.D. degree from Charing Cross Hospital Medical School.

Although living in London she spends much of her time travelling around the world co-ordinating medical trials for a small Japanese pharmaceutical company,indeed she says that her first novel Painting Ruby Tuesday (2003) was written on aeroplanes.It concerns ten-year old Angharad (Annie) Craddock, whose neighbours are being brutally murdered; including Mrs. Clitheroe who shared Annies love of music and her synaesthesia, as Annie puts it "We see things in colour that aren’t. Not just music. Numbers. Letters. Days of the week. People’s names.". Jane Yardley herself experiences synaesthesia and it inspired her to write the book.
Her newesr novel Dancing with Dr Kildare was published by Doubleday on 2 January 2008.

Reviews

[sisterimapoet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because it featured a character with synaesthesia, however when I saw the cover I wonder if it wasn't just glorified chicklit.

It wasnt, quite. A neat little story about a woman in mid-life crisis reflecting on a string of murders that took place in her childhood. And a fair few reflections on seeing music and numbers and days of the week as colours.

One of those books that heaps on the cultural details to set the historical scene - in this case mid 60's Essex. If you liked 'What Was Lost' by Catherine O'Flynn you'd probably like this one too!

I enjoyed the emphasis Yardley placed on memory and music. I didn't enjoy her attempts to be funny, but I'm sure that's just me. She also sometimes crammed in a clever word, seemingly out of nowhere (or pulled from the Will Self vocabulary book) perhaps to counter the chicklit impressions.

I would have checked out other books by her but then I noticed her other title was set in a 70's childhood and also took its title from a song, and suddenly the phrase 'one trick pony' stuck in my mind.

[Elizabeth Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is summer 1965 and ten-year-old Annie is whiling away the holiday in her Essex village with best friend Babette, trying to keep out of the way of her parents who run the village school. But as she practises for her grade 5 piano exam and escapes into the latest Beatles or Rolling Stone song, the local community is shocked by a spate of murders.

At first, Annie continues to visit her favourite adult, Mrs Clitheroe, who shares her synaesthesia, the tendency to see music, days of the week etc as colours, absorbed in conversation with her while Babette leafs through an old photo album. But then the murders come closer to home. Annie is a witness, but she has no intention of helping the police to find the culprit.

In tandem with the story of her childhood we meet Annie thirty years later, a musician and teacher with one failed marriage and another cooling. She is offered a chance to move to New York, a place that has always been significant to her, but she needs to work on improving the relationship with her American husband, Alan. But memories of her creative, chaotic first marriage to sculptor, Daniel are getting in the way.

This is a complex book about only children who live in a world of their own (I identify with this!) of the traumatic effect of discovering a murder scene and the way some people stay with you all of your life, even if you only knew them as a child. It is amusing, mystifying and reveals the world of a sixties village very well. It is a stimulating read which makes you think but it is also a great page turner.

[tinalouisereadsbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is the summer of 1965. Annie Cradock, the only child of exacting parents who run the village school, is an imaginative girl with a head full of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Annie whiles away the school holiday with her friends: Ollie the rag-and-bone man (and more importantly his dog); the beautiful piano-playing Mrs Clitheroe who turns Beethoven into boogie-woogie (and like Annie sees music in colour); and Annie's best friend Babette - streetwise, loyal, and Annie's one solid link with common sense. But everything changes when the village is rocked by a series of murders and the girls know something they've no intention of telling the police. In the present day, adult Annie is a successful singing coach in a stifling marriage. Her ambitious American husband, impatient with his quirky wife, is taking a job in New York - but is she staying with him? As Annie struggles with her future, she first has to come to terms with the bizarre events of 1965.

My Thoughts:

Just a quick review for this book.

I have suffered this book to page 184, and that was only because husband was watching Chelsea on tv and I didn’t want to start a new book as I had one to pick up from the library.

This book was ridiculous and irrated me. It was funny in places but then the humour wore off.

Another rubbish read for book group I’m afriad.

[Mirandapandareads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Painting Ruby Tuesday by Jane Yardley

Odd, dark, funny and compelling. I'm left smiling and baffled 🥴

This book is about how 10 year old Annie deals with fear, guilt and anxiety when she accidentally on purpose sabotages a series of murder investigations in her village, and how it affects her adult life.

Annie's innocent and beautiful mind sees music, numbers, days and other things as colours, yet she constantly finds herself in trouble. She just needed to be listened to. It was upsetting to see how easily a child can be misunderstood and ignored.

The ending is crazy.... 👌

🐼🐼🐼🐼 4/5 #mirandapandas

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed, I could really relate to the young Angharad

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book irritating rather than charming. Found it hard to like the main character- disappointing because it seemed to hold so much promise!

[Hilary G · Rating 5 out of 5]

January 2012 (first reading)

Jane Yardley was another discovery made by choosing a random book at the library. I have enjoyed all four of her novels, but Painting Ruby Tuesday was the one I liked the best. All of the novels are set in the 1960s, an era which is evocative for me and fills me with nostalgia (yes, I was there, and yes I can remember the sixties). This novel in particular reminded me of Behind the Scenes at the Museum. So far as I can tell, Jane Yardley has not had a book published since 2008, but I would like to read more by her.

March 2013 (second reading)

I am going to give this novel 5 stars because, despite having read it before, I was enjoying it so much I could not even give up on it in the face of the new Kate Atkinson novel plopping through the letterbox. Interestingly, although, Jane Yardley's voice is different from Kate Atkinson's, I associate them in my mind as intelligent, funny women, with a wonderful command of language. There is some similarity in theme between Painting Ruby Tuesday and Behind the Scenes at the Museum, but I don't think there is a connection between them. There are too many other books that approach similar territory - The Go-Between, Spies, Atonement to some extent, and no doubt, many others - so it must be a universal theme. I really like Jane Yardley's characters, they are all recognisable, as are the times, the sixties, and, of course, the music. Synaesthesia, which I have long been interested in, features in the novel and gives it an extra dimension. I think this is a lovely book, and I wish Jane Yardley would write more. So far as I know, she hasn't had anything published since 2008.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dual storyline set in 1965, and sometime in the late 90s. Annie Cradock - 10 years old in 1965 - is shocked by the murder of her favourite neighbour.

As an adult, Annie is unhappily maried to her second husband, but torn between staying with him and leaving. It is clear that the events of more than 30 years earlier have had a lasting effect upon her. Little does she realise that there is still more to be revealed about the murder!

I preferred the storyline with Annie as a child - the adult Annie seemed immature and selfish, and often irrational, and I couldn't warm to her at all. Nonetheless, I quite enjoyed this book - there was some dark humour, but at times it seemed slightly forced.

An okay read, but I'm not sure I would pick up another book by this author.

[Babs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished reading this last night and thought it was a great book. The story is split between the past, when the lead character, Annie, is a child, and the present, when she is 40 years old and contemplating a move to New York with her husband. The story focusses on a series of murders in the village where Annie lived as a child, and how her involvement affected the police investigation. The story is told well, with good insight into how a child would react to what was going on, and how she could feel responsible for the murders (even though she wasn't). Throughout the book, the theme of synasthesia is explored which adds an extra dimension to the usual murder-mystery story.

A well-written book, that tells a good story, and has a good beginning, middle and end!

[BlueSky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried very hard to get involved with this book. I loved the concept of the story and at first I thought I was not concentrating enough and had to keep rereading passages. Then I thought it was meant to be obscure but would eventually explain itself. No. It was like reading passages written by a hyped up fly that zipped here then there then revisited here and then went completely sideways for a bit and then just buzzed in circles a while - just because it could.

Awful, because it could have been good and it wasn't. What good is telling a story if your reader can't understand it?

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had promise, set both in the 60s in England and present day New York/London, but the amount of characters and the density of the text was a bit overwhelming for my summer reading, vacation mind.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shelved by W H Smith along with the chicklit, heaven knows why. The voice in this reminded me of 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum'. A convincing child s eye view of a grown-up world that s completely beyond understanding, and an interesting, flawed adult perspective.

[Cassie Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love this book, I have done since I first read it as a teenager. I love the musical reference and can identify with the heroine so much. A great read (especially if you are a musician, artist or creative sort).

[Rachel Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book, loved it just as much as "A Saucerful of Secrets" by the same author.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really for me,I found the main character irritating when she was both young and old. Still don't really know who did the murders and why

[Kelly Bennett · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to like this. But the main character was so irritating I couldn't finish it.