Barbara Vine is the pseudonym of crime novelist Ruth Rendell, who was born in London in 1930 and is now acknowledged as one of Britain’s leading crime writers. Readers should consult the entry by Susan Rowland on Rendell for full information on this writer’s life. Since 1986, Rendell has published twelve novels as Barbara Vine. These are:

A Dark Adapted Eye

(1986);

A Fatal Inversion

(1987);

The House of Stairs

(1988);

Gallowglass

(1990);

King Solomon’s Carpet

(1991);

Asta’s Book

(1993);

No Night is too Long

(1994);

The Brimstone Wedding

(1995);

The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy

(1998);

Grasshopper

(2000);

The Blood Doctor

(2002);

The Minotaur

(2005); and

The Birthday Present

(2008).

The Child’s Child

will be published in 2012. Several of these novels have won awards:

A Dark Adapted Eye

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Citation: Turner, Nick. "Barbara Vine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 June 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5858, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5858 Barbara Vine 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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