The Brimstone Wedding

Starred review from October 15, 1995
Once again, Ruth Rendell writing as Vine (e.g., No Night Is Too Long, Harmony, 1995) weaves a compelling tale of ordinary people facing extraordinary pressures. Two women, divided by age and class, share their deepest secrets in an English nursing home in which one cares for the other. There is a sense of secrecy from the start, as Jenny Warner tells dying Stella Newland about her love affair and Stella shares with Jenny the location of her secret house. Secrecy gives way to foreboding, and tension builds as details are masterfully revealed. Vine is an extraordinary storyteller, able to enthrall a reader right from the start, as she does here. Additionally, she provides a satisfying symmetry in the construction of this book, with the two women's alternating voices and the inextricable linking of their lives, as Stella dies and Jenny is virtually reborn. This is a marvel--may Vine write many more. Highly recommended.--Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.

Starred review from October 1, 1995
Vine's latest is certain to inspire such glowing superlatives as "brilliant," "mesmerizing," "evocative," "masterful," and "stunning," and readers are sure to be captivated by her story about two women, 70-year-old Stella Newland and 30-year-old Genevieve Warren, whose tragic love affairs intertwine and mirror each other. Stella lives at Middleton Hall, a home for well-heeled old folks, where Genevieve is a daily caregiver. Cancer-ridden but still spry, Stella loves hearing about Genevieve's life, which is so very different from Stella's own structured, straitlaced existence. Village-born and raised, Genevieve has lived a peaceful if monotonous life, married her grade-school sweetheart, and settled down to a boring, loveless marriage. Then she meets Ned, a successful television writer, and falls passionately in love. Unable to keep her happiness hidden, she confesses the affair to Stella. But Stella knows the tragic consequences of love--and as the cancer eats away at her body, she becomes determined to share her own shocking story with Genevieve before it's too late. Universal in theme and appeal, "Brimstone" is a storytelling tour de force from one of today's most provocative and intelligent writers. ((Reviewed Oct. 1, 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)