Asta's Book

By: Barbara Vine

Narrated by: Harriet Walter

It is 1905. Asta and her husband, Rasmus, have come to East London from Denmark with their two little boys. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing a diary. These diaries, published over 70 years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal. For they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder and to the mystery of a missing child. It falls to Asta's granddaughter, Ann, to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.

©2006 Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Haunting characters and story

The storyline of this book is complex and, at times, a bit hard to follow. I found myself going back over chapters at several points. Admittedly, this partly due to the fact that I like listening to Audible as I fall asleep. But it was also b/c of the way in which the story unfolds. This might be annoying in some books, but it completely works in this one, as the main "mystery" of the book is being very carefully unwrapped through the eyes of a few different characters.

The three central characters are women, and they were really well developed by the author. The narrator adds so much to the character development --- I want to listen to other stories she had narrated!

The ONLY reason I did not assign five stars is that the storyline bogged down a bit midway through the book. If you find you have the same experience, keep going! Well worth the read/listen.

Be forewarned that this is not a mystery story in the traditional sense. If you like strong and interesting female characters and the atmosphere of a haunting mystery (rather than only the usual plot line of a standard mystery), you likely will love this book.

Not one of her best

I'm a big fan of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine,so I was disappointed with this offering. Part of the story is intriguing and holds one's interest, but a lot is slow and boring.I really don't think that diary would be a big seller.Like all Rendell books it is atmospheric and unforgettable.

All of it

Liked everything always enjoy Barbara Vine great writer and always such great characters nothing more to add

An excellent story excellently performed

This is Ruth Rendell at her finest, really, weaving an engrossing tale full of captivating, believable characters. Harriet Walter’s narration is perfection.

This was terrific! I want to keep a journal now

I still haven't figured out why I love Barbara VIne's writing so much and have been so disappointed in Ruth Rendell's books, but I'll take all the Barbara Vine I can. This was another winner - not as good as A Dark Adapted Eye, but still terrific in it's own way. It's a combination of family secrets and generational differences, laid out in a compare-and-contrast fashion through the interpretation and reading of the decades-long journal writing of the protagonist's grandmother. The book, of which the first part was published as a best-seller before the timeline of this novel, leads the protagonist to discovering (and uncovering some) family secrets, as well as re-establishing some long-lost family connections.