Tigerlily's Orchids
a psychologically twisted version of a modern urban fairytale from the award-winning Queen of Crime, Ruth Rendell
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4.1 • 8 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
From multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell, this is a darkly humorous and piercing observation of human behaviour. Fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this compelling fable of our lives and our crimes...
'Rendell's greatest trick is making an unforeseen outcome feel predestined' -- Financial Times
'Throroughly gripping . . . As always with Rendell, it's the exquisite human and social minutiae that count' -- The Times
'Rendell does it again!' -- ***** Reader review
'Utterly gripping' -- ***** Reader review
'Unputdownable' -- ***** Reader review
'Absorbing' -- ***** Reader review
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When Stuart Font decides to throw a house-warming party in his new flat, he invites all the people in his building and, after some deliberation, even includes the unpleasant caretaker and his wife.
Although there are some genuine friends on the list, they are a disparate group of people and he definitely does not want to include his girlfriend, Claudia, as that might involve asking her husband.
The party will be one everyone remembers. But not for the right reasons.
Living opposite, in reclusive isolation, is a beautiful young Asian woman, christened Tigerlily by Stuart. As though from some strange urban fairytale, she emerges to exert a terrible spell on Stuart and his guests...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rendell's spare, sleek novel of psychological suspense gets off to a slow start, then picks up speed to become vintage Rendell, not the powerhouse of the 1990s but with enough plot petrol to blow most American authors out of the water. Personalities and generations clash and coexist at Lichfield House, a north London condominium, whose residents include Stuart Font, a vapid Romeo; 60-year-old Olwen Curtis, boozing away her liver; and Marius Potter, an ex-hippie growing fond of his neighbor, Rose Preston-Jones. Add a pedophile janitor, a trio of faddish college students, and a mysterious house across the street where immigrants from Hong Kong allegedly grow orchids, and you have all the elements for spontaneous social combustion. Less a mystery than a slice of life, the book offers a lone murder that comes across as an afterthought because neither the characters nor the reader can feel strongly about it. As always, Rendell (Portobello) spices the action with just the right gothic ingredients to keep things baroque but consistently believable.
Customer Reviews
Sue
Different than the usual rendell style but a good read which had some unexpected twists and turns