Asta's Book

Read "House of Stairs" 3 times. I find this book a dud. On page 181 of Asta's Book; still not sure what is what and why. Previous owner of this book wrote a partial familial flow chart. Find the story boring, but I'll finish the book. I can imagine the blow-back from people that enjoyed this book and that's OK.

This is a beautifully written, well nuanced novel of mystery and suspense that seamlessly moves between the past and the present. The past is told through the diaries of a Danish immigrant named Asta, who went to live in Edwardian England with her husband, Rasmus, and two young sons at the turn of the century. Settling down in East London in 1905, her loveless marriage and loneliness drove Asta to keep a journal of her innermost thoughts and experiences. Though married to a man who spent a great deal of time away from home on business and with whom she seemed to have little in common, Asta added two more children to her family, daughters, Swanny, her favorite, and Maria, the youngest. Asta's lyrically written journals would chronicle of her life, her struggles as an immigrant, her hopes and dreams, and her adoration of Swanny. They would also tantalizingly hint at a secret that would, ultimately, impact on her daughter, Swanny, later in life.Over seventy years later, those diaries, all forty nine of them, would be discovered and become a publishing sensation and a bestseller. Within its many pages would lie the missing pieces to a turn of the century murder mystery and the leads to the whereabouts of a missing child, as well as tantalizing clues to the puzzling circumstances surrounding Swanny's birth. This information would lie dormant until nearly a century after Asta first put pen to paper, when Asta's granddaughter, Maria's daughter Ann, would review the diaries and discover not only the secret of Swanny's birth, but the identity of a missing child, as well as that of a killer, who nearly a century earlier had butchered two women. This is a book well worth reading, and one that will command the readers attention until the very last page is turned.

One of her very best and that's saying a lot. Rendell is my favorite alltime author, and I'm a constant reader. The format of her mysteries changes constantly and this one has the peculiar focus of a niece editing the famous diaries of her deceased aunt. What she finds develops into a fascinating story with Rendell's usual diverting subplots and surprising finale.

I was raised in a bookstore, did read a lot of books... But this one really stands out. The cover by itself is already appealling, the handwriting and the children, you can deduct a good story in it. I loved the diaries of Asta (I don't get it why my version is Asta's book, later on changed to Anna's book), she is so clever. The plot is fantastic, I even went to archives of the newspaper I work for to check on dates and events... Such as the ship going under with the cadets... The murder is horrifying, and you keep asking about the missing child.... They should write more books like that. Containing a good story, good characters, a thin line between fiction and non-fiction. I just devored it.....

In most of Barbara Vine's novels, the identity of the killer is known from the beginning. The mystery lies in the nature of the crime and the criminal's mind, which are gradually revealed as the story unravels. ANNA'S BOOK deviates from the rule in that the question of whodunit is not revealed until the very end. For that reason, it may be the most "mysterious" of Vine's tales.Anna Westerby is a young Danish woman living in London in the early 1900's. She keeps a record of her life in her diary, writing mostly about her beautiful young daughter, Swanny. After Anna's death, the diaries are published to great critical acclaim, but they slowly reveal a chilling pattern. One of the entries is missing, it turns out, an entry that may shed light on the murder of Lizzie Roper, a crime that took place not far from Anna's old house. There are mysteries beyond whodunit, however. Questions arise concerning Swanny's illegitimacy, and the whereabouts of the missing Edith Roper, Lizzie's daughter. The novel alternates between selections from Anna's diary and a narrative by Anna's granddaughter, Ann Eastbrook, who begins to investigate the murky secrets behind her family history.This is one of Barbara Vine's most complex, intricately plotted mysteries. The solutions are not revealed until the final chapters, and Vine once more dazzles us with stunning ingenuity, giving us some of her most "Why didn't I think of that before?" revelations ever. But above all, this is a wonderful, richly textured novel. Vine writes beautifully; the diary passages are poignant, convincing, and marked by wry humor, and the characters are vivid and real. While ANNA'S BOOK lacks the chilling suspense of some of Vine's earlier novels, it is nonetheless one of her best.

This was the first Barbara Vine book that I read and it's the one that got me hooked. I've now read every one of them and am eagerly awaiting the latest book "The Chimney Sweep's Boy". My sister bought me this book after I gave birth four years ago, and it's what got me through the long night feeds during those first weeks. It's a book that drags you in to its intriguing plot and just totally envelops you. I loved it and was so sad to reach the end. It was like having to say goodbye to a dear friend.