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Ruth Rendell
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Asta's Book Kindle Edition

by Ruth Rendell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 453 ratings
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An “obsessively readable” mystery from the New York Times–bestselling author of Dark Corners about a century-old diary that holds clues to a murder (The Sunday Telegraph).

 Asta Westerby is lonely. In 1905, shortly after coming to East London from Denmark with her husband and their two little boys, she feels like a stranger in a strange land. And it doesn’t help that her husband is constantly away on business. Fortunately, she finds solace in her diary—and she continues to do so until 1967.
 
Decades later, her granddaughter, Ann, finds the journal, and it becomes a literary sensation, offering an intimate view of Edwardian life. But it also appears to hold the key to an unsolved murder and the disappearance of a child.
 
A modern masterpiece by the Edgar Award–winning author of the Inspector Wexford Mysteries, and an excellent choice for readers of P. D. James, Ian Rankin, or Scott Turow, Asta’s Book is at once a crime story, a historical novel, and a psychological portrait told through the diary itself and through Ann, who is bent on unlocking the journal’s excised mystery.
 
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  1. Print length
    446 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller
  5. Publication date
    February 22, 2011
  6. File size
    3139 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“For a good, absorbing, well-told story, you could hardly better the unveiling of Asta’s secret.”—The Sunday Times “A double detective story . . . obsessively readable.”—The Sunday Telegraph

About the Author

Edgar Award–winning author Ruth Rendell (b. 1930) has written more than seventy books that have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (London), she is the recipient of the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Writers’ Association. Rendell’s award-winning novels include A Demon in My View (1976), A Dark-Adapted Eye (1987), and King Solomon’s Carpet (1991). Her popular crime stories featuring Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford were adapted into a long-running British television series (1987–2000) starring George Baker.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00AG8G1WM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller (February 22, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 22, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3139 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 446 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 453 ratings

About the author

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Ruth Rendell

Ruth Rendell

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Edgar Award–winning author Ruth Rendell (1930-2015) wrote more than seventy books and sold more than twenty million copies worldwide. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (London), she was the recipient of the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Writers’ Association. Rendell’s award-winning novels include A Demon in My View (1976), A Dark-Adapted Eye (1987), and King Solomon’s Carpet (1991). Her popular crime stories featuring Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford were adapted into a long-running British television series (1987–2000) starring George Baker.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
453 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gypsy River
5.0 out of 5 stars A mystery hidded in a diary ... you won't be able to stop reading this one
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2017
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Loved the two voices of Asta and her Granddaughter Ana. Starting out I didn't like Asta much. But it was like listening to the unfiltered voice that you never hear from people. It felt like you were really reading someone's diary and finding out what they really thought and felt but would never say to anyone.

As I kept going I did warm up to Asta and of course the mystery regarding her beloved daughter Swanny was amazing. Didn't see the end coming and the resolution was a true and sweet surprise.

This is my first Ruth Rendell, though I did enjoy the BBC dramatization of A Dark Adapted Eye. Rendell is a great story teller.
9 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2016
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Really enjoy Barbara Vine's (aka Ruth Rendell) interesting and dense mysteries. Have read most of her novels. "Asta" has many plot twists with an ongoing dialogue by two of the characters interwoven as the plot. You think you know where they're going, but the Asta character retains her secrets to the very end. A good read
One person found this helpful
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Kevin Killian
3.0 out of 5 stars Grounds for a Suit
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2012
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I was so looking forward, in middle age, to going back and reading the Barbara Vine novels I had read as a youth, and also to catching up with the ones I had skipped while I married, started a career, and wrote books of my own. Oh how I used to love her, though as I think of it now I don't remember anything in particular, just the atmosphere. Some fans told me to go back and find ASTA'S BOOK, claiming it was among her very best. So I plunged right in. The first 50 pages are exciting enough, but then I noticed that very little happens for another couple of hundred pages, while the narrator's two eccentric forebears grew more dreary and monotonous as the pages dragged by.

Asta herself is such a conceited creature that it became hard for me to believe that her diaries have become a national treasure. The mechanics by which her beloved daughter, Swanny, gets to see the diaries achieve the very top ranks of bestsellerdom are nicely outlined, but afterwards I was thinking, she is such a drip, why do readers take to her? We never do find out the opinion of the man on the street, but Ann herself, the accidental detective and Asta's granddaughter, continues to have a skeptical opinion of Asta, one that is well warranted from page one of the diaries. We know she's hiding something, and likely it is regarding the birth of Swanny, and somehow it's connected with a notorious true crime cases of 1905 London; we find all of this out on the flaps of the book. And I didn't guess, which may be due to Vine's admitted talent at the shell game but also because the answer was completely unprovable and improbable to the nth degree. I imagine that ASTA'S BOOK will appeal to those readers who thrilled to the hospital bed detections Josephine Tey had her hero perform in THE DAUGHTER OF TIME, but here I wasn't falling for it.

Why have Asta, her husband and sons come from Denmark anyhow? It's not a serious novel about immigration issues. I think the answer is that no English people would do anything like what Asta and Swanny do; their actions are preposterous enough to blame only on the Danes. They remain murky and unreadable. And when you find out who committed the notorious murder, you'll be scratching your head wondering, "And Ann knows this how?" All in all, a mixed bag, like the famous curate's egg of George DuMaurier. "Did you like it? Well, I liked PARTS of it." But Denmark and the Danes should file a class action suit.
8 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Rendell was an amazing wordsmith
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2024
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When one begins reading this book, one embarks on a slow journey of discovery. Somehow Rendell makes that journey fascinating.
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S. Leigh
4.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2012
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I'm a fan of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine but this story was paced too slow for my taste. It seemed a little repetitive in the descriptions of the main characters. By the time I reached the end, I had stopped caring. The present day story didn't engage me.
One person found this helpful
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carmen
5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2016
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Ruth Rendell, whether she is writing as Rendell or as Barbara Vine is one of the best contemporary mystery writers. Her books are not only entertaining but also full of surprises. She is a master of language and description and develops her characters well. This book is no exception and I recommend it to anybody that wants a good read.
3 people found this helpful
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Paulette Folmer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous mystery
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2022
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This one keeps you guessing until the end. Every time you think you know who Swanny's real parents are, you are wrong. So sad nobody finds out until almost everyone has died.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Iona Weaver
5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinding
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 15, 2021
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I loved this book - it does take a bit of getting into, but, as I got into the story, I was dying to get home from work so that I could carry on reading. Towards the end, I would've stayed up all night to find out the solution to the mystery. The ending was very satisfying and all the loose ends were tied up.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in Italy on April 3, 2018
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All good, reliable seller, quick delivery. The book was in good condition and , n
I had no problems whatsoever
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Neil
4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2020
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Overall I enjoyed this book however I thought it was going to be better and a little underwhelmed by the time I had finished it.
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C. J. Simmons
5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant performance of this wonderful Vine/Rendell book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2015
Verified Purchase
Item arrived in very good condition. This is my favourite Vine/Rendell novel and have read it several times. This time I wanted to hear what the audio version was like. Well, it is narrated by Dame Harriet Walter who is one of the UK's best actors - so I knew it was going to be a superb performance rather than a simple audio of the book. And that is exactly what was delivered. This is a one-woman performance who uses every nuance within the text to bring the characters alive. Ms. Walter even reads out the Danish part of Asta's diary which in itself is admirable. This is a standout unabridged version of this novel and I strongly recommend you buy it! Enjoy!
3 people found this helpful
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Chris92
4.0 out of 5 stars If all diaries are this good, it should be mandatory to publish them
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2013
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Barbara Vine is a great author and this is one of her best. For me the mystery is secondary, i enjoyed the humour and secrets of the characters in both the past and present.
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