The long title story is about a man whose life, in a sense, is a book. There are shelves in every room, packed with titles which Ambrose Ribbon has checked pedantically for mistakes of grammar and fact. Life for Ribbon, without his mother now, is lonely and obsessive.
He still keeps her dressing table exactly as she had left it, the wardrobe door always so that her clothes can be seen inside, and her pink silk nightdress on the bed. There is one book too that he associates particularly with her - volume VIII of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Piranha to Scurfy. It marked a very significant moment in their relationship.
In the other stories, Ruth Rendell deals with a variety of themes, some macabre, some vengeful, some mysterious, all precisely observed. The second novella, High Mysterious Union, explores a strange, erotic universe in a dream-like corner of rural England, and illustrates very atmospherically what range Ruth Rendell has as a writer. 'If the crime short story is an endangered species, Ruth Rendell is one of the few courageous environmentalists fighting for its survival.
She presents irrefutable evidence that the genre deserves not merely to survive but to flourish.' The Times
| ISBN: | 9781856866248 |
| Publication date: | 7th September 2000 |
| Author: | Ruth Rendell |
| Publisher: | Random House Audiobooks an imprint of Random House |
| Format: | |
| Genres: |
Crime and Mystery Shorter Reads Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
The long title story is about a man whose life, in a sense, is a book. There are shelves in every room, packed with titles which Ambrose Ribbon has checked pedantically for mistakes of grammar and fact.
Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories features in the following genres: Crime and Mystery, Shorter Reads, Modern and Contemporary Fiction
Paperback, . Not Available.
Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories was written by Ruth Rendell and published by Random House Audiobooks an imprint of Random House