Family & Friendship - Fiction, Crime Fiction

The Crocodile Bird

Name: The Crocodile Bird
Author: Ruth Rendell
ISBN: 9780440218654

by Ruth Rendell

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Overview

A mother and a daughter live quietly in the rustic gatehouse of Shrove House, an isolated British estate. Their life seems perfectly ordinary except that daughter Liza has been kept isolated from the outside world for all of her sixteen years. And that he has seen her beautiful mother commit murder... more than once. Now, as the police come searching for a missing man, Liza's sheltered, strange world begins to fall apart. Piece by piece she will reveal her mother's tale of betrayal, desire, and obsession. Step-by-step we discover how much like mother, like daughter she is.

Sheltered with her mother in the rustic beauty of an English country estate, Liza has been kept isolated from the outside world for all her 16 years. But when her mother is taken away on suspicion of murder, Liza's fragile life and innocence is invaded by the outside world. Piece by piece she reveals her mother's tale of deadly obsession.

Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

Like a modern-day Scheherazade, young Liza Beck tells her story over a span of nights and in the process finds salvation. After the police question her mother, Eve, about the death of Jonathan Tobias, the owner of Shrove House, 16-year-old Liza runs away with Sean, the young garden hand at the remote English manor. It is to him, over the course of 101 nights, that Liza gradually reveals her strange upbringing, living alone with Eve in the gatehouse of the Tobias estate. Rigorously schooled by her mother, isolated from all society except, on occasion, the mailman or groundskeeper and the few men, including Tobias, whom Eve admits into their world, Liza learns early that others may have something to fear from Eve, but that she does not. Credibility never flags as Edgar Award-winning Rendell ( Kissing the Gunner's Daughter ) reveals the specifics of Liza's increasing contact with the world, creating suspense in the gradually meted out details of Eve's intense attachment to Shrove House and her determination to protect Liza from civilization. Although unpredictable, the payoff seems a little weak and the careful pace somewhat slow; nevertheless, there are no holes in this psychological puzzler that has a strong afterlife. Author tour. (Oct.)

About the Author, Ruth Rendell

From the start of her illustrious career, Ruth Rendell's novels have blurred the distinction between literature and commercial fiction. Although Rendell is classified as a writer of mysteries and crime thrillers, her elegant prose and superb literary skills elevate her far above the conventions of those genres.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Like a modern-day Scheherazade, young Liza Beck tells her story over a span of nights and in the process finds salvation. After the police question her mother, Eve, about the death of Jonathan Tobias, the owner of Shrove House, 16-year-old Liza runs away with Sean, the young garden hand at the remote English manor. It is to him, over the course of 101 nights, that Liza gradually reveals her strange upbringing, living alone with Eve in the gatehouse of the Tobias estate. Rigorously schooled by her mother, isolated from all society except, on occasion, the mailman or groundskeeper and the few men, including Tobias, whom Eve admits into their world, Liza learns early that others may have something to fear from Eve, but that she does not. Credibility never flags as Edgar Award-winning Rendell Kissing the Gunner's Daughter reveals the specifics of Liza's increasing contact with the world, creating suspense in the gradually meted out details of Eve's intense attachment to Shrove House and her determination to protect Liza from civilization. Although unpredictable, the payoff seems a little weak and the careful pace somewhat slow; nevertheless, there are no holes in this psychological puzzler that has a strong afterlife. Author tour. Oct.

Library Journal

Putting this title in the mystery collection may be slightly misleading since the killer's identity is revealed early on, but listeners will find the tale as addictive as any whodunit. Seventeen-year-old Liza reveals her life story, Sheherazade-like, to her lover: raised in near isolation by her mother in a remote place, she finds herself abruptly sent away when her mother is arrested for murder. More than one man has disappeared after threatening her mother's peaceful lifestyle, and Liza must learn to live with the legacy of murder. Narrator Lisanne Cole is excellent, and the attractive packaging will entice listeners, but the story suffers some in abridged form. Recommended if budget woes will not allow for purchase of an unabridged version if and when it becomes available.-- Luana Ellis, Jamestown Community Coll. Lib., Olean, N.Y.

School Library Journal

YA-Beautiful Eve lives in isolation as caretaker of a remote, mostly vacant British estate, where she raises and educates her illegitimate daughter, Liza, away from any modern influences. She becomes involved with men from time to time, but if her privacy is threatened in any way, she murders them. When the police finally catch on and come to arrest Eve, Liza flees. She goes straight to the arms of an admiring young groundskeeper, who gladly welcomes her into his modest home a van and into his heart. Now that Liza has tasted freedom, though, she is reluctant to tie herself down, and she rejects her lover's eventual proposal of marriage. She takes the money that Sean offers her along with the van, and sets off on her own. Teens will be intrigued by this dark, multilayered story. Is Liza someone to be pitied, having been raised in total isolation by a half-mad mother, or is she the feminist ideal-intelligent, independent, and resourceful? The Crocodile Bird provides much food for thought for mature teens who have a taste for the unexpected.-Susan R. Farber, Chappaqua Public Library, NY

Stuart Whitwell

Let's begin with something simple, like the plot. A bright young woman, made angry by personal tragedy and her artsy, liberal, and elitist hostility to the modern world, lives as the manager of a remote country home. The wealthy owner, whom Eve had once hoped to marry, visits his estate once or twice a year, leaving the manager in virtual isolation. Eve has a bastard daughter, Liza, whom she protects by cutting her off from the world completely: the child is educated by her mother, is not allowed to read mail catalogs, watch television, or spend time in the local village. But things go wrong, and Eve is forced to resort to murder to protect her isolation. Her daughter, however (16 years old when the story begins), is lucky: forced to flee before the police arrive, she runs straight into the arms of a poor young man who loves her. It is her tale, as told to gentle young Sean, that makes up the bulk of the story. But hold on (and now we come to the fascinating bit), isn't something wrong here? Isn't Rendell doing a sort of "emile"? Isn't this the story of a child brought up in an idyllic setting, a child given all the attention she needs, given an old-fashioned but thorough education, a smart child, strong and at peace with herself? Rendell alludes to Rousseau's "emile", for this is one of the books Liza reads. She also sees Liza as a sort of princess, a Scheherazade, in fact. Now, there "is" murder in this story, and Eve is by no means the perfect mother--but really, is there anyone who will dare to say she has not produced a quite wonderful (sensitive, adaptive, intelligent, resourceful) daughter? This is a cunning, subtle, extraordinary book. Rendell, already the best of the best, seems to get better and better.