Excellent, brilliant storytelling

Great book. Beautifully narrated by Juliet Stevenson. A compelling story that kept me interested from the start.

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Excellent - a real gem

Juliet Stevenson narrated it beautifully. Not your usual whodunnit at all and an intriguing story that gently unfolds and draws you in. I loved it.

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Intriguing

An intriguing web of a story told from the daughter's perspective. Well written if a little bit rambling at times. Superb narration by Ms Stevenson as usual, a pleasure to listen to.

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truly entertaining

I am making my way through Rendell's full catalogue and am yet to be disappointed and hope they never end. But this is by far my favourite.

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Brilliant start to finish.

Fantastic, Ruth Rendell of the earlier days at her very best. Only 4*s for performance though, as the narrator's voice of Shaun the boyfriend was absolutely dreadful.

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captivating story

lovely atmosphere details, understanding of the country side and its impact on a woman's identity and the inequality of relationships.

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The first Ruth Rendell to make me cry

Never thought that was going to happen. I was so hooked on the story and so convinced it could only end in one way that the final came as a total surprise and relief. Nurture or nature all forgotten after a long story of beautiful stories and hard reality and life. It was fascinating to follow the story and even get different ways of living and telling the stories all supported by a very good narrator. This story needed a female voice and what voice it got. In my opinion one of the best Ruth Rendell books and thrown in some beautiful course of history and literature, maybe not a complete waste in a suspense story. Now I want even more, eager to find out what other stories entail. So far I never had a dull moment in my journey of revisiting Ruth Rendells book in audio instead of paper. Strangely I do remember this one as having discarded it years ago as dull and uninteresting. Maybe it pays getting older and more patient and more curious and open minded. It also pays giving her stories more time to listen or read in detail and enjoy not only the essence of a story but all it’s journey.

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Atmospheric story that pulls one in

I enjoyed this story that has many of the attributes that characterize a Ruth Rendell novel: alienated characters living on the edge of society; an uneasy sense of menace all pervaded by the atmosphere of the place where the story unfolds. It all starts slowly as the characters are introduced few of whom are sympathetic yet I wanted to know how things would turn out for them and I was drawn into their lives and couldn't stop listening not knowing how it would end.

Juliet Stevenson is a marvellous narrator making me feel I was listening to the voices of real people.

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Enjoyable

I enjoyed the story, and the performance was great. In parts, it got a bit too long without much happening.
It was reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, not for the storyline but the atmosphere, although this is set in the 80s.
Some parts of the plot should have had an ending, they were left floating to everyone's guess. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant listen. I was not disappointed.

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different to anything I've read before.

I've not listened to anything like this before & struggled at first but enjoyed it.

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