Paperback ( )

Family history containing murder. Only at the end does it become clear who was murderer. The uncertainty of the why: craziness or child taking and that question is left to the reader’s imagination. It is a story of the English countryside in the World War Two era. ( )

Ruth Randell/Barbara Vine is always reliable for a good read. I didn't realize it when I picked it up, but this may be the first Barbara Vine novel. I confess I spent a good chunk of the novel trying to remember all the characters and their relationships to each other. Maybe I was a bit spaced out when I read the beginning and it never quite came clear to me, or maybe it was just confusing. I generally appreciate it when the narrative isn't over-expository, but in this case I could have used a family tree diagram. The narrator of the story is Faith, and most of it is her recollections of her two aunts, particularly Vera, who was hanged in punishment for committing murder. Although her victim eventually becomes obvious, for the vast majority of the book it is never said, who Vera murdered. She is portrayed as a difficult woman with definite secrets, and passions which obviously led her to commit murder. Faith's recollections are prompted by a writer who is researching the murder, with an eye to writing a book about it, a notion that deeply rattles the characters who have outlived Vera. Secrets, not just Vera's but those of many others, are revealed and serve to muddy the waters in the style of a classic whodunnit, though this is much more the style of Barbara Vine's psychological mysteries. Not sinister or menacing, but disturbing, leaving the reader guessing, though somehow satisfied. ( )

Through a Glass, Darkly*
Review of the Penguin Books paperback edition (2016), with an Introduction by Val McDermid, of the original Viking UK hardcover (1986)

A dark-adapted eye is one that has adjusted to darkness so that it is able to discern objects. In the context of the novel, the title refers to Faith's ability, after many years, to examine and analyse her family's history and its tragedy. - an excerpt quoted from the book's Wikipedia page (see link below).

This became a 5 rating after a rough start which was making me angry (usually the harbinger of a 1 star rating). I went back and restarted the book and drew a character tree of family and significant associates to help orient myself which was of enormous help. In case it is of help to others, I've copied it below.

See image at https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/336532633_218068047425915_528...
A rough family tree for "A Dark-Adapted Eye". Image from my own screenshot.

This is by no means an easy book to follow and I can understand Ruth Rendell deciding to publish it using an alternate penname. It is far more complex than the lighter Inspector Wexford mysteries or the noirish non-Wexford books which were issued under Rendell's own name.

Vine starts the book on the morning of the execution of Vera Hillyard in the late 1940s. We open on a family breakfast with Faith (nee Longley, later Severn) and her father John and mother Vraani. We don't yet know why Vera has been condemned and will only learn about it gradually. A great number of characters are mentioned by name without any introductions, such as Helen, Chad, Francis, Jamie etc. and the confusion starts. Who are these people? And why aren't they being introduced properly? An element of frustration sets in for the reader, so you need to have patience.

Gradually the book takes shape as Faith (in later life) is enlisted as a source by a journalist who is writing a book about the Vera Hillyard case. Periodically we can read chapter excerpts of the planned book as they are passed on to Faith. These are written in a more factual manner which helps fill in the backstory. What seemed at first a case of one murder becomes a complex examination of other possible murders, child abductions, poisonings, abuse and sisterly rivalry within the extended Longley family, mostly taking place during the World War II years when Faith at a young age was sent to spend time with her aunts Vera and Eden in the countryside and away from London which was regularly under bombing attack by Nazi Germany. There are revelations from both those years and from Faith's discoveries in later life.

This was the most complex book yet in my current Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine binge read/re-read and my first of the Barbara Vine series. It is also my first 5 star for its masterful tension and suspense and complexity. There is a tiny element calling for an Ambiguous Ending Alert™, although I think most readers will have no trouble deciding on a parentage which is left somewhat open to doubt due to contradictory evidence in the book.

See cover image at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/ADarkAdaptedEye.jpg
Cover image for the original Viking UK hardcover edition from 1986. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Trivia and Links
A Dark-Adapted Eye was adapted for television in a 2-part TV miniseries as A Dark Adapted Eye in 1994 with Helena Bonham Carter in the role of the older Faith Severn. You can watch the entire 2 episodes on YouTube starting with Part One here.

* I used an excerpt from Corinthians 13:12 for my lede. ( )

Fiction*