A slow paced narrative looking at life's questions is realistic and believable.
A childlike simple style captivating and with atmosphere.
The author's minute observance of peoples habits, created an eerie atmosphere, heightening senses.
She showed the protected Lisa's developing awareness and thinking and slowly revealed the mother Eve's lying and secrets.
I was captivated by the story. ( )

Oh dear. Another book I’ve read but forgot I’d read it.

Often that’s why I write a brief review: so I’ll remember the book, or at least can check to see if I liked it.

Liza, who is 16, has been raised and educated by her mother, Eve, in nearly total isolation. They live in the gatehouse of a beautiful estate, Shrove. Eve loves Shrove to the point of distraction, partly because it’s her childhood home, and partly because it provides her and Liza with a quiet and peaceful haven from the world. For the world has been cruel to Eve, and she is determined that Liza won’t be hurt.

But the world intrudes even here, and Eve takes drastic steps to keep her haven.

This is a slow-moving, atmospheric book, with lush descriptions of Shrove’s natural beauty and the mostly calm, rather idyllic way that Liza and Eve live. But Edens can’t exist forever; Satan or some other evil intrudes and the respite is left in ruins.

My opinion (you know, the one I can’t remember) has improved from my first reading four years ago. I became completely immersed in Liza’s world: it all seemed believable, if odd. I was prepared to give this a full five stars, but the ending was, for me, facile. I don’t want to spoil it for any other readers so I’ll just leave it there.

Recommended to those who love gothic novels. This is an excellent modern rendition of that genre.

Note: The one scene I remembered was about two-thirds of the way into the book, and was quite brief. It’s intriguing to me that what sticks in one’s memory is often rather inconsequential to the rest of the book. ( )

Wow. Rendell really knows how to create characters that are, to say the least, disturbing. She also knows how to draw us in, bit by bit, revealing one secret after another, creating layers upon layers of personality.

WHat an absolute delight this book is. I have one warning, though: once you begin you may have trouble putting it down. ( )

Creepy, creepy but ends in a believable way.

Well, this is how it's done. A cracking good story, well told. 16-year-old Liza knows next to nothing about the world outside Shrove, the estate she's grown up on, with only her mother Eve for companionship. Eve has educated her well, within bounds that do not stretch far into the 20th century. Liza does not know about television, understands little of math or science (beyond the natural world), and her concept of society is formed by reading mainly 19th century novels. Yet she is fluent in Latin, knows much of Shakespeare by heart, and has seen her mother shoot a man. The older she gets, the more the modern world seeps into her consciousness, despite all her mother can do to keep it out. This is mighty good stuff, with hints of Jane Eyre, Shirley Jackson, Scheherazade, and Blue Beard. I wanted to read it to the exclusion of everything else I was meant to be doing. I thought I saw the end coming, and I was wrong. Damned near 5 stars.
Review written October 2014 ( )