Portobello, Ruth Rendell
Portobello, Ruth Rendell
4 Rating(s)
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
Club: $10.00

Portobello

Author: Ruth Rendell

Narrator: Tim Curry

Unabridged: 11 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/07/2010


Synopsis

Ruth Rendell is widely considered to be crime fiction’s reigning queen. In Portobello, she delivers a captivating and intricate tale that weaves together the troubled lives of several people in the gentrified neighborhood of London’s Notting Hill.

Walking to the shops one day, fifty-year-old Eugene Wren discovers an envelope on the street bulging with cash. A man plagued by a shameful addiction—and his own good intentions—Wren hatches a plan to find the money’s rightful owner. Instead of going to the police, or taking the cash for himself, he prints a notice and posts it around Portobello Road. This ill-conceived act creates a chain of events that links Wren to other Londoners—people afflicted with their own obsessions and despairs. As these volatile characters come into Wren’s life—and the life of his trusting fiancée—the consequences will change them all.

Portobello is a wonderfully complex tour de force featuring a dazzling depiction of one of London’s most intriguing neighborhoods—and the dangers beneath its newly posh veneer.

About The Author

Ruth Rendell has been awarded three Edgars for best novel by the Mystery Writers of America, as well as the Grand Master Award. In England, the Crime Writers’ Association has honoured her with two Gold Dagger Awards for best novel, a Silver Dagger, and a Diamond Dagger for outstanding contribution to the genre. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ian on July 29, 2011

I've read every work of fiction that Ruth Rendell has published but I have to say that I was terribly disappointed with this latest effort. The initial premise I found flawed. Wealthy guy finds a quantity of cash in the street and instead of handing it in to the police or simply pocketing his lucky......more

Goodreads review by John on June 28, 2023

WTF. A bizarre story with different characters lives connecting when Eugene a wealthy antique dealer finds an envelope with £125 and advertises to return the money with a flier on a lamp post. Why not just hand it into the police? Eugene’s addiction to Chocorange sweets is bonkers. His girlfriend/fi......more

Goodreads review by Mark on August 31, 2011

I'm continually amazed at Ruth Rendell's ability to produce quality fiction both under her own name and as Barbara Vine. Nobody writes about obsession better than Rendell. She has a particular gift of making the most everyday of activities brim with menace. She also has a unique ability to create fa......more

Goodreads review by Lori on April 15, 2021

This book differs from the other Rendell books I read. The novel studies several characters whose lives become intertwined because they live on or near or visit Portobello Road. One character is a middle-aged man addicted to a candy; his fiancée is a doctor who becomes a personal physician to a man......more

Goodreads review by Susan on June 28, 2012

Now here's an author who can interweave different storylines and really make it work! I love Rendell's stand-alone fiction. Not crazy about her Inspector Wexford series, which is beter-than-usual British police procedural, but I have read with gusto most of her stand-alone novels. Most of them invol......more