 First edition (publ. Hutchinson) | |
| Author | Ruth Rendell |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Scribner |
Publication date | 4 November 2014 |
| ISBN | 978-1-4767-8432-8 |
The Girl Next Door is a 2014 novel by British crime author Ruth Rendell. [1] [2] [3] It was the last of her novels published in her lifetime. [4]
During World War II, a group of children in Loughton, Essex, United Kingdom, which is where Rendell herself grew up, play in tunnels (in reality, the foundations of an uncompleted house) they discovered under a hill. In the present day they are reunited after the discovery of two hands in a tin box when the tunnels are dug up for construction work. [5] The novel deals frankly with changes and interrelationships of the characters and social changes generally, over seven decades.
In a review in The Observer , it was noted that instead of focusing on the crime, the novel dealt with the lives of the now elderly people in the present. [6]
In Marilyn Stasio's review for The New York Times , the novel's effective use of a split time frame was noted. [7]