Rating: 
Summary: A rich, superbly plotted novel
Review: In most of Barbara Vine's novels, the identity of the killer is known from the beginning. The mystery lies in the nature of the crime and the criminal's mind, which are gradually revealed as the story unravels. ANNA'S BOOK deviates from the rule in that the question of whodunit is not revealed until the very end. For that reason, it may be the most "mysterious" of Vine's tales.Anna Westerby is a young Danish woman living in London in the early 1900's. She keeps a record of her life in her diary, writing mostly about her beautiful young daughter, Swanny. After Anna's death, the diaries are published to great critical acclaim, but they slowly reveal a chilling pattern. One of the entries is missing, it turns out, an entry that may shed light on the murder of Lizzie Roper, a crime that took place not far from Anna's old house. There are mysteries beyond whodunit, however. Questions arise concerning Swanny's illegitimacy, and the whereabouts of the missing Edith Roper, Lizzie's daughter. The novel alternates between selections from Anna's diary and a narrative by Anna's granddaughter, Ann Eastbrook, who begins to investigate the murky secrets behind her family history. This is one of Barbara Vine's most complex, intricately plotted mysteries. The solutions are not revealed until the final chapters, and Vine once more dazzles us with stunning ingenuity, giving us some of her most "Why didn't I think of that before?" revelations ever. But above all, this is a wonderful, richly textured novel. Vine writes beautifully; the diary passages are poignant, convincing, and marked by wry humor, and the characters are vivid and real. While ANNA'S BOOK lacks the chilling suspense of some of Vine's earlier novels, it is nonetheless one of her best.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT THAT GREAT AS A MYSTERY
Review: It was a good book, sometimes confusing, sometimes not all that compelling. I didn't care that much for the character Swanny, nor the narrator, Ann. The only person of interest in the story, was Anna, and her excerpts were few and far between. It just didn't compel me as some other reviews stated. Good mystery, nice to read one that wasn't a straight murder.
Rating:
Summary: SOME SECRETS ARE WORTH TELLING...
Review: Originally released in the United Kingdom under the title, "Asta's book", this beautifully written, well-nuanced novel of mystery and suspense seamlessly moves between the past and the present. The past is told through the diaries of a Danish immigrant named Anna, who went to live in Edwardian England with her husband, Rasmus, and two young sons at the turn of the twentieth century. Settling down in East London in 1905, her loveless marriage and loneliness drove Anna to keep a journal of her innermost thoughts and experiences.
Though married to a man who spent a great deal of time away from home on business and with whom she seemed to have little in common, she added two more children to her family, daughters, Swanny, her favorite, and Maria, the youngest. Anna's lyrically written journals would chronicle of her life, her struggles as an immigrant, her hopes and dreams, and her adoration of Swanny. They would also tantalizingly hint at a secret that would, ultimately, impact on her daughter, Swanny, later in life.
Over seventy years later, those diaries, all forty nine of them, would be discovered and become a publishing sensation and a bestseller. Within its many pages would lie the missing pieces to a turn of the century murder mystery and the leads to the whereabouts of a missing child, as well as tantalizing clues to the puzzling circumstances surrounding Swanny's birth. This information would lie dormant until nearly a century after Anna first put pen to paper, when Anna's granddaughter, Maria's daughter, would review the diaries and discover not only the secret of Swanny's birth, but the identity of that missing child, as well as that of a killer, who nearly a century earlier had butchered two women.
This is a book well worth reading, and one that will command the reader's attention until the very last page is turned.
Rating:
Summary: What More Can I Say About Ruth Rendell?
Review: Ruth Rendell (Barbara Vine in this case) cannot be beaten when writing in her genre. As Barbara Vine she writes psychological mysteries that are extraordinary. I never cease to marvel at her ingenuity and imagination! In this book she drifts back and forth across time while describing journals written by a young Danish woman in the very early part of the twentieth century. Anna's descendents are left trying to discover the secrets behind the journals which have been kept hidden for upwards of eighty years. The way Ms. Vine seamlessly slips back and forth between 1905 and the present day (or at least 1991 close to when this novel was actually written), is truly remarkable while at the same time maintaining an aura of suspense throughout is a feat few authors could successfully accomplish, but she does it flawlessly. A true master of the psychological thriller genre!
Rating: 
Summary: There's no place like home -- for madness and murder.
Review: Swanny Kjaer has led a charmed life. She is beautiful, wealthy, socially prominent, happily married and, in her fifties, still the favorite child of her strong-willed mother. Her happiness is shattered, though, when she receives an anonymous note telling her that she is not really her mother's daughter. Is it the truth, or simply a cruel prank? Swanny's self-confidence, her sense of identity, her filial devotion and, eventually, her sanity are undermined by this question. Following her mother's death, Swanny takes on the job of translating and publishing her mother's secret diaries in the hope of discovering some clue about her identity. Custody of the diaries devolves upon Swanny's niece, Ann Eastbrook, who renews Swanny's search and quicly learns that the riddle of Swanny's parentage may be bound up with a decades-old mystery involving murder and a missing child. The inhabitants of "Anna's Book" are bound by custom, duty and language. In fact, the entire novel may be read as an exercise in translation. Anna's diaries are written in her native Danish; Ann learns that nuances of language can be lost when the books are translated into English. Anna herself, fierce, stubborn and not entirely likable, loses some of her meaning when she is "translated" for the sake of her English readers (the reading public seems to revere her as some sort of feisty grande dame, overlooking her less appealing attributes). Even the mystery's denouement depends on a successful act of translation. Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine, covers familiar territory here. As in many of her novels, the family is not a site of comfort and support, but a source of conflict, doubt and madness. The source of the mystery, and its resolution are old-fashioned. Rendell is less interested in violence and special effects than in slowly gathering sense of dread. This is not traditional detective fiction, but an exploration of the recesses of the human heart. Rendell successfully parallels two unhappy marriages, showing different classes dealing with unhappiness in very different ways. Even more successful is her use of various types of texts -- Ann must piece together the two mysteries by reading diaries, yellow journalism,trial transcripts, even human faces. And Anna's voice is memorable: intelligent, imperious, hidebound, often callous. (One quibble -- it strains the reader's credibility to think that the British reading public would fail to notice how unpleasant Anna really was.) In contrast, the modern Ann is something of a cipher. She seems to be little more than a vaguely unhappy middle-aged woman with little to think about. The atmosphere is effectively chilling, although the narrative moves too sluggishly at times. Rendell apparently wants us to recognize that the mysteries of daily life do not explode; they grow over time. Given that, the resolution is too pat, a happy coincidence that jars in the context of a fine and psychologically accurate narrative. Still, Rendell's dark and homely magic works here.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent plot, gradual building of suspense.
Review: The setting for this story and the flashbacks throughout keep the reader in suspense all the way. It is well thought out and presented so that you really want to know how it will end long before the end.
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: This book was wonderful -- much more than a simple whodunnit, it was a complete and satisfying novel. Rendell/Vine balanced the two time periods in which the story was set without confusing the reader. The title character, though not particularly pleasant, was intriguing. The mystery developed at a pace to keep my interest piqued without frsutrating me. In the end the major aspects of it were solved, others purposely left unclear. This book was fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: This is a beautifully crafted novel that transcends the mystery genre -- it belongs in the category of exceptional fiction. The characters, especially that of Anna, are exceptionally well developed, the story has a smooth, even pacing with numerous plot twists and the book's Edwardian atmosphere is superb. This is a terrific book!
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This is the best novel Vine/Rendell has written under either name. It's an intricate set of puzzles constructed within each other, and after SIX readings, my fascination with this novel and its construction is undiminished, my admiration for its creator without bounds. Rendell's ability to go back and forth in time within the space of a few paragraphs is one of her best assets as a storyteller. She seamlessly weaves the apparently unrelated threads of this novel - a diary, a trial transcript, a present-day narrative - into a beguiling, compelling narrative, rich in characterization and historical detail. I can only shake my head in wonder that this novel wasn't showered with awards after its publication in 1993. It is an extraordinary achievement by an extraordinary novelist, and both the novel and its author transcend the mere 'mystery' genre. It's a great disappointment to me that while Rendell has long been a critics' favorite in the US, she has yet to achieve as wide a readership here as has her friend P.D. James.
Rating:
Summary: "Anna's Book" is my favorite book of all time!
Review: This is the most extraordinary book I have ever read, and read, and read! While it requires a little effort to "get into" the story, the end rewards are great indeed. The plot involves mysteries inside mysteries, and you're not even aware that they ARE mysteries until the answers begin to unfold. Anna's life, as revealed through her diaries, is masterfully told, from her girlhood, through her marriage and child-raising years, into her old age and death. We get to know Anna intimately, her joy, her pain, her prejudices, and we learn the truth about Swanny, the child her husband rejected.
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