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A Dark-Adapted Eye cover art

A Dark-Adapted Eye

By: Barbara Vine
Narrated by: Harriet Walter
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Summary

Like most families, they had their secrets...

...and they hid them under a genteelly respectable veneer. No onlooker would guess that prim Vera Hillyard and her beautiful, adored younger sister, Eden, were locked in a dark and bitter combat over one of those secrets. England in the '50s was not kind to women who erred, so they had to use every means necessary to keep the truth hidden behind closed doors - even murder.

©1986 Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about A Dark-Adapted Eye

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Compelling exposure of a family’s secrets

The author’s forte is in her depiction of human relationships whether writing detective fiction as Ruth Rendell or in her more psychological novels as Barbara Vine. This book is not a detective story and from the beginning we know that Vera has killed her sister Eden. The whole book is a detailed unravelling of why this occurred through the voice of Faith: the niece of the victim and perpetrator. Most of the characters are flawed and not particularly likeable but the narrative is utterly compelling and I was drawn into a hot-house of emotions among family members and their their dysfunctional relationships.

This is justifiably rated as one of the author’s best books and made a great listen.

Harriet Walter is an accomplished narrator and skilfully portrayed both young and old, male and female.

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27 people found this helpful

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Brilliant story, with dark and complex characters

A brilliant, dark, thought-provoking story with some of the most well-realised and complex characters I’ve ever come across. Whatever ‘crime’ novels or ‘detective fiction’ or ‘thrillers’ are usually supposed to be, for me this utterly transcended those genres. As the narrator comments, we know from the start who the killer is and how the murder was done. Instead of focussing on that, Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) unfolds the psychology of the Hillyard family with a perceptiveness that sometimes takes your breath away. It made me think that other books I’ve read with supposedly ‘deep’ or ‘complex’ characters are quite flat and obvious by comparison. There are lots of twists in the plot, but they never felt like contrivances or clever tricks. They come about as Faith, the character who narrates the story, grows gradually wiser and more perceptive about the secretive ways of her two aunts – as her ‘eye’ adapts to understand their dark behaviour, to paraphrase the title. Harriet Walter was an excellent reader, appropriately understated in her delivery but giving distinctive, memorable voices to the characters, many of whom are painfully repressed and reserved. This is the first Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell I’ve read or listened to, and I’ll certainly read more now.

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11 people found this helpful

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  • J
  • 10-08-14

Brilliant!

If you could sum up A Dark-Adapted Eye in three words, what would they be?

This book is often rated as Ruth Rendell's best, and I agree. It's so much more than a crime novel; and Ruth Rendell is so much more than a crime writer. It's not for nothing Jeanette Winterson calls her mother.
Having read the preview, I did hesitate, as I wondered whether it would be too unsettling at night going to sleep listening to the 'voice' of a victim/ criminal without Inspector Wexford as a sane, down-to-earth intermediary, but it wasn't the case at all. The narrator of the story is an ingenue, and it was performed wonderfully by Harriet Walter.

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10 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Horribly plausible - beautifully written

This densely plotted tale shows how family jealousies, snobbish attitudes and social taboos create a toxic brew. murder becomes the plausible, almost banal outcome. Beautifullly written and sensitively natrated.

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7 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Oh dear - so old fashioned

So sorry folks, but I have to disagree with the reviews (and I read a lot before purchasing). Perhaps I have become a listener/reader who likes more action than this novel had in store. It did not take long before I was bored although I really did try to stay with the story and hope my interest would be sparked into life. Alas, it just didn't happen and I will sadly return unfinished and unloved. Honestly, I have enjoyed (and will hopefully continue to do so) slow burners from the past but found this novel to be truly old fashioned and tedious and will stick with our authors other identity and stick to Ruth Rendell.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

too complicated 😪

too much backwards, too many characters. not a good run this morning trying to get into this. put me off my stride

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A well adapted tale

10+ hours of beautifully narrated, taut mystery
An all round triumph and to date my favourite Audible

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Well...absorbing and intriguing

Extremely well read. It kept my interest and it had so many intricate twists and turns that it was tricky to keep all the characters and timelines in perspective.
However, the main thread was clearer and I really struggled to feel sorry for either of the snobbish sisters.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Typical Barbara Vine excellent!

Harriet Walter reads beautifully. Look forward to another one. As always Vine never disappoints. I have been reading her books for years.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Intriguing story

A well written and well read piece of fiction. Intriguing story full of twists and turns, definitely a must read.

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2 people found this helpful