Barbara Vine Livres

Elizabeth porte en elle la chorée de Huntington, une maaldie héréditaire incurable transmise par les femmes, dont sa mère est morte. Sa cousine Cosette, qu'elle considère comme sa mère adoptive décide, une fois devenue veuve, de changer de vie et elle s'installe dans la « Maison aux escaliers » qu'elle a achetée. Elisabeth vient l'y rejoindre quelque temps après. Elle découvrira là une bande de parasites qui profitent scandaleusement de la richesse et de la générosité de Cosette. Elisabeth leur présentera Bell dont la beauté et la ressemblance avec un portrait d'un peintre de la Renaissance l'obsèdent ; Bell à son tour leur fera connapitre Mark dont Cosette tombera éperdument amoureuse. Dans une ambiance de bohême dorée, une monstrueuse machination s'ourdit dont le dénouement tragique et cruel ne laissera personne indemne...

A new novel from Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell's alter ego) is always a reason to celebrate, and this exceptional psychological thriller showcases her mastery in drawing readers into an unfamiliar world. It explores the roots of obsession through the history of a young woman whose love of heights is marked by tragedy, guilt, and exile from her family home. Clodagh Brown, frightened by enclosed spaces yet passionate about climbing, faces the aftermath of her high school sweetheart's death. Living in the basement of a relative's home in Maida Vale, London, she meets peers who share her psychological quirks and introduce her to the steep rooftops of their neighborhood. Clodagh falls for Silver, a young man whose top-floor apartment is home to a diverse group of individuals. Their youthful idealism often clashes with conventional values and legal norms. As Clodagh and Silver navigate their relationship, their friends provide a rich tapestry of lives and personas—from Liv, the Swedish au pair who climbs rooftops but fears what lies below, to Jonny, whose need to dominate leads to shocking consequences. When the climbers discover a couple hiding with their adopted son from authorities, Vine's ability to shift pace while maintaining story and character shines. The novel is an acutely drawn, immensely satisfying read.

When Sandor snatched little Joe from the path of a London Tube train, he was quick to make clear the terms of the rescue. 'I saved your life,' he told the homeless youngster, 'so your life belongs to me now'. Sandor began to tell him a fairy-tale: an ageing prince, a kidnapped princess chained by one ankle, a missed rendezvous.

Kerstin Kvist enters crumbling Lydstep Old Hall to live with the Cosways, and to act as nurse to John: a grown man fed drugs by his family to control his lunatic episodes. Kerstin is determined to help John, however there are others in the family who are equally as determined that John remain isolated.

Ivor Tesham is a handsome, single, young member of Parliament whose political star is on the rise. When he meets a woman in a chance encounter-a beautiful, leggy, married woman named Hebe-the two become lovers obsessed with their trysts, spiced up by what the newspapers like to call "adventure sex." It's the dress-up and role-play that inspire Ivor to create a surprise birthday present for his beloved that involves a curbside kidnapping. It's all intended as mock-dangerous foreplay, but then things take a dark turn. After things go horribly wrong, Ivor begins to receive anonymous letters that reveal astonishingly specific details about the affair and its aftermath. Somehow he must keep his role from being uncovered-and his political future from being destroyed by scandal. Like a heretic on the inquisitor's rack, Ivor is not to be spared the exquisitely slow and tortuous unfolding of events, as hints, nuances, and small revelations lay his darkest secrets hideously bare for all the world to see. "The Birthday Present" is a deft, insightful, and compulsively readable exploration of obsessive desire-and the dark twists of fate that can shake the lives of even those most insulated by privilege, sophistication, and power.

A love affair is flourishing between Ivor Tesham and Hebe Furnal. What excitement Hebe lacks at home is compensated for by the well-bred and attractive Tesham. On the eve of her twenty-eighth birthday, Tesham decides to give Hebe a present to remember: something far more memorable than the costly string of pearls he's already lavished upon her.