The Girl Next Door
Ruth Rendell
It ain’t over till it’s over.
There’s the mystery. A cold case, in the form of an unsolved murder from 1944. A pair of lovers’ hands, buried together inside a tin box in tunnels outside of London, unearthed by construction workers sixty years later. Who were the victims? Who was the killer?
And there’s suspense – where you’d least expect to find it. The ongoing lives, loves and losses of a group of septuagenarians, the children who once played in those tunnels, interweave with the past to create a story that is both riveting and inspiring.
Brava to Rendell, author of more than sixty books and recipient of numerous awards and accolades, for revealing old age as a time of discovery, fulfillment, passion, loss, and regret. This is Cocoon without the space ship. Rendell quietly renders the narratives of her ensemble of seniors, the writing never coy, apologetic or condescending, and draws us into caring deeply about love, growth, acceptance and justice. Read and be enthralled.