Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBEwas an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth17 February 1930
aloud clumsy great possible rewrite sort work
I don't find writing easy. That is because I do take great care: I rewrite a lot. If anything is sort of clumsy and not possible to read aloud to oneself, which I think one should do... it doesn't work.
characters fascinated obsessions people
I don't know that I am fascinated with crime. I'm fascinated with people and their characters and their obsessions and what they do. And these things lead to crime, but I'm much more fascinated in their minds.
given people
I don't care for people who are given peerages who have paid for them. I think it happens, and I don't like that.
pretend sweetness
I wouldn't be young again even if it were possible, but I am not going to pretend that growing old is all sweetness and light.
people sure
I don't exorcise anything with my writing. I'm sure people do, but I don't.
feminists unless women
I think that all women, unless they are absolutely asleep, must be feminists up to a point.
cupboard large quite stuffed
I have two quite large houses, and every cupboard and drawer is stuffed with books.
background childhood grew sort wants
I think about what kind of a background he had, what sort of childhood he had, how he grew up, what he does for a living, the way he wants to live,
bathroom food large minutes open six work
I get up just before six and come downstairs, put food out for the cats, and open the cat flap. Then I work out for 35 or 40 minutes - I have a very large bathroom with an elliptical cross-trainer and a bicycle.
awful business deal father great guilt knew later ms multiple nobody suffer suffered
My mother started to suffer from multiple sclerosis, but nobody knew what MS was then. My father didn't - and later he suffered a great deal of guilt over that. It was an awful business and very fraught.
added bad blood burden early far further illnesses itself less
Haemophilia itself is bad enough. It is disabling day by day, even if far less incapacitating than in the 19th and early 20th centuries. But the added burden of life-threatening further illnesses from contaminated NHS blood is far worse.
fictional resembles
I don't think there is a fictional character who resembles me because fictional characters are not real!
knew politics
I knew quite a lot about politics before I went to Parliament.
campaign heart rather reason stroke terrible
If I've got to have a stroke or a heart attack, I'd rather have a heart attack. I don't think that's the only reason I campaign for the Stroke Association, but a stroke would be a terrible thing.