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elfflame's review
4.0
I borrowed this book from my mom far too long ago, but I always intended to read it, and I was not disappointed in the least. Though it is a mystery, the murder mystery is actually in the background and another curious puzzle takes place in the foreground, the central part to everything else. The author keeps you guessing as she disproves one theory after another, until you begin to wonder if you will even find out at all. I won't spoil it except to say that you do finally find out the truth at the end, and when you do, all the pieces come together, and everything makes absolute sense, the way a perfectly wound mystery should do.
Now for the meat. Don't read beyond this point if you do not want to be spoiled.
The main mystery in this story isn't directly about Anna at all, though she is one of the three central characters. Rather, it is about her daughter, Swanny, who is her favorite child. Swanny receives a note that states she is not her parents' child, and is horrified. Anna refuses to say that she is adopted, and being the stubborn woman that she is, takes the note and rips it up, then burns it in the fire. After this moment, there is a growing tension between the two, though Swanny still seems to love her mother, despite everything. It is only after her mother's death, when she uncovers a stack of journals written by her mother since the year of her birth, that things are uncovered.
The journals themselves are as important to the plot as Swanny, Anna, and Anne, who is Anna's granddaughter by her other daughter. Each plays an important role. Anna as the writer of the journals which, when carefully interpreted (they are written in her native Danish, though by the time she began to write them, she is living in England), begin to unravel not only Swanny's parentage, but also the truth behind a murder that happened right about the time Swanny was born. Swanny as the lost girl, searching in vain for her true parentage, which is revealed by her niece only years after Swanny's death. And Anne, the narrator of the story, who puts all the pieces together, and finds out Swanny's full true parentage only after she and her husband have long since given up looking for it.
The mystery of who Swanny might truly be will keep you guessing. Each possibility quickly struck down with proof that it cannot be true, and soon a new possibility takes its place. Again, I won't say who we learn her parents to be. For that you will have to read the book, but I will say that despite the fact that her parents' stories are told throughout the book, I never once guessed until the truth was revealed.
The characters both main and minor are fascinating. Not generally kind, though they can be, but each with whims and needs of their own that lead us to the inevitable conclusion of Anna's story, then Swanny's, and ultimately Anne's.
I was initially drawn to this book because of the fact that it is genealogy in novel form, and because the story was so unique. The fact that Anna and her husband are Danish only made it more interesting for me, as she is about the age my own Danish great-grandparents would have been at that time, or perhaps a little older. For me, this pushed me into a world that I only partially know, and each little detail only made it that much more interesting. It almost makes me wish I could read more of Anna's journals, as the people in the world of the story can. It makes me want to see the movie "Roper," and the follow-up production that came about because of Anne and her friends' investigation into the Roper murder. This world just feels real.
All in all, I would give this four and a half stars if I could. I highly recommend it to people who enjoy mystery and this time period.
Now for the meat. Don't read beyond this point if you do not want to be spoiled.
The journals themselves are as important to the plot as Swanny, Anna, and Anne, who is Anna's granddaughter by her other daughter. Each plays an important role. Anna as the writer of the journals which, when carefully interpreted (they are written in her native Danish, though by the time she began to write them, she is living in England), begin to unravel not only Swanny's parentage, but also the truth behind a murder that happened right about the time Swanny was born. Swanny as the lost girl, searching in vain for her true parentage, which is revealed by her niece only years after Swanny's death. And Anne, the narrator of the story, who puts all the pieces together, and finds out Swanny's full true parentage only after she and her husband have long since given up looking for it.
The mystery of who Swanny might truly be will keep you guessing. Each possibility quickly struck down with proof that it cannot be true, and soon a new possibility takes its place. Again, I won't say who we learn her parents to be. For that you will have to read the book, but I will say that despite the fact that her parents' stories are told throughout the book, I never once guessed until the truth was revealed.
The characters both main and minor are fascinating. Not generally kind, though they can be, but each with whims and needs of their own that lead us to the inevitable conclusion of Anna's story, then Swanny's, and ultimately Anne's.
I was initially drawn to this book because of the fact that it is genealogy in novel form, and because the story was so unique. The fact that Anna and her husband are Danish only made it more interesting for me, as she is about the age my own Danish great-grandparents would have been at that time, or perhaps a little older. For me, this pushed me into a world that I only partially know, and each little detail only made it that much more interesting. It almost makes me wish I could read more of Anna's journals, as the people in the world of the story can. It makes me want to see the movie "Roper," and the follow-up production that came about because of Anne and her friends' investigation into the Roper murder. This world just feels real.
All in all, I would give this four and a half stars if I could. I highly recommend it to people who enjoy mystery and this time period.
slipperose's review
4.0
A bit of a category bender. Alternating between a "present day" narrative in the 1980s and diary entries from the beginning of the twentieth century, I would call this historical fiction, with both social commentary and an underlying murder mystery. Altogether, a great read that I couldn't put down, as Rendell unwrapped the conclusion piece by piece. I reorganized my weekend so I could stay in bed reading.
raehink's review
3.0
Do the diaries of a Scandinavian immigrant contain the answers to an old unsolved mystery? The answer is in another intriguing psychological mystery by Ruth Rendell.
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