The Birthday Present (novel)

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The Birthday Present
VikingPenguin 2008 BarbaraVine TheBirthdayPresent.jpg
First edition (UK)
AuthorBarbara Vine (Ruth Rendell)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Crime/Mystery novel
Publisher Viking (UK)
Crown (US)
Publication date
6 June 2002
Media typePrint/Audiobook
Pages400 pp (Hardback)
ISBN 0-670-91274-3
OCLC 59395413
Preceded by Portobello  
Followed by The Monster in the Box  

The Birthday Present (2008) is a novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, written under her pseudonym Barbara Vine. It was her first novel under this name in three years.

Plot summary

Robert, a city accountant narrates the story, with excerpts from one Jane Atherton's diary. He is married to Iris Tesham. Iris' brother Ivor is an up-and-coming Tory MP, who is having an affair with Hebe Furnal. Hebe uses Jane Atherton as her alibi for her trysts. Ivor Tesham arranges a mock abduction of Hebe as a birthday present for her, but it goes horribly wrong. [1]

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References

  1. "This dark literary thriller". Salon.com www.salon.com. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2009.