The Bridesmaid

by Ruth Rendell

Overview

Philip Wardman, an ordinary young man, sports one eccentricity: a neurotic fear of violence and death. Like Ferdinand, he likes to smell the flowers, particularly those in his mother's garden, where stands a statue of the goddess Flora, who over time has come to represent all the female virtues.

Imagine Philip's consternation when, at his sister's wedding, he encounters a living incarnation of the marble Flora: Senta Pelham, an actress happily contemptuous of conventional morality. She comes to him that night.

But Senta has a dark side. Where death frightens Philip, it fascinates her. She proposes a wicked test: to prove his love he needs to kill.

"Vintage Rendell. Shrewd psychological insight, irresistible narrative force...a true member of that small family of great living authors." --Scott Turow

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781453210994
Publisher:	Open Road Media
Publication date:	12/28/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
Sales rank:	237,736
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Ruth Rendell is the recipient of several awards, including three Edgars and four Gold Daggers from the UK’s Crime Writers’ Association. Simisola, Blood Lines, Keys to the Street, and The Brimstone Wedding (written as Barbara Vine) are available from Brilliance Audio. She lives in England.

Date of Birth:

February 17, 1930

Place of Birth:

London, England

Education:

Loughton County High School for Girls, Essex

Editorial Reviews

A young man fearful of violence, an extravagantly eccentric young woman and three deaths figure in this atmospheric but insubstantial mystery from one of England's finest horror/suspense writers. Philip Wardman, beginning his career as an interior designer, lives with his widowed mother and two sisters in a small house outside London. At his sister Fee's wedding, Philip meets Senta Pelham, cousin to the groom and a bridesmaid, with whom he falls quickly into bed and in love. Soon Senta, with her silver-dyed hair and exotic ways, tells Philip they must prove the unconventionality of their love: each must commit a murder. Secretly appalled, Philip demurs, but Senta is adamant and soon he tells her that a recent killing mentioned in the newspaper was done at his hand. When Senta files her own report, Philip is much relieved, believing through a series of misunderstandings that she too has laid false claims to murder. The reality of Senta's imbalance is gradually revealed, however, and the police appear on the scene just as she unveils her grisly history. While Rendell depicts her characters with crystal clarity and renders Philip's sexual obsessiveness convincingly, the plot, woven of flimsy circumstances, doesn't hold up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Londoner Philip Wardman falls for a beautiful, enigmatic woman he meets at his sister's wedding. Wardman abhors any depiction of violent death, but Senta believes they should each kill someone to prove their love for each other. He fantasizes a murder, while she, an actress and perhaps just a little mad, tells a quite convincing story of murdering one of his enemies. What he discovers about her tale leads to grief and horror. Subdued tones, stultifying atmosphere, and omniscient narration mark this telling depiction of mutual psychological obsession. From the prolific author of An Unkindness of Ravens (LJ 9/1/85) and (under the name Barbara Vine) A Fatal Inversion (LJ 9/1/87).

Library Journal