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
novelists philip sex
There are some novelists who can get away with writing about sex - Philip Roth, Ian McEwan - but they are rare.
attempted illiterate man obscene says totally
I think it says something that I have never had an obscene letter. A young man once attempted one, but it was so totally illiterate and hopeless that it made me laugh.
articulate death horrible lose move properly several speak strokes unable vigorous wheelchair
My father had several strokes and heart attacks. I was with him when he died, and it was a horrible death. He had been a very articulate man, and to lose that, never to be able to speak properly and to be unable to move - he had always been a very vigorous man, so to be in a wheelchair and mumbling - was terrible.
profoundly
It's not necessary with your friends to discuss something you know you will disagree profoundly on.
english favourite ford good possibly
Ford Maddox Ford's 'The Good Soldier' is my favourite novel. I first read it in the 1950s and have read it about 20 times since. It's possibly the best-constructed book in the English language.
charities
I have a soft spot for charities that help children.
compulsive
I do write about obsession, but I don't think I have an obsession for writing. I'm not a compulsive writer. I like to watch obsession in other people, watch the way it makes them behave.
barbara believe
I always know when a novel is going to be a Barbara Vine one. In fact I believe that if I weren't to write it as Barbara Vine, I wouldn't be able to write it at all.
barbara mysteries slowly sort vines
I don't think the Barbara Vines are mysteries in any sense. The Barbara Vine is much more slowly paced. It is a much more in-depth, searching sort of book; it doesn't necessarily have a murder in it.
columns interested run
I am interested in names and what they say; it is true. I like to look at the columns of baby names in the newspapers. But I don't run out of new ones for my characters.
buried finding finds flowers gardens goes gone houses indeed instead killer lived next serial sinister street trees turned victims
I think what would I do next if, as in his case, he goes to look at the place where a serial killer lived and indeed buried his victims and instead of finding this very squalid and sinister street he finds it's all gone and the whole place has been turned into a very pretty little enclave of small, pretty houses and gardens and trees and flowers and cobbled streets.
difficulty quite
I have had quite a lot of prizes, but I don't think it makes any difference to the ease or difficulty to the writing process.
injured dislike
we dislike those we've injured.
cop created series
Wexford started off as a very conventional, tough cop and not a very original character because I had no idea I was writing a series, of course. I had no idea I'd created a series character.