Portobello: A Novel

INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELLS FINAL NOVEL, DARK CORNERS

Ruth Rendell is widely considered to be crime fictions reigning queen, with a remarkable career spanning more than forty years. Now, in Portobello, she delivers a captivating and intricate tale that weaves together the troubled lives of several people in the gentrified neighborhood of Londons 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 addictionand his own good intentionsWren hatches a plan to find the moneys 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 Londonerspeople afflicted with their own obsessions and despairs. As these volatile characters come into Wrens lifeand the life of his trusting fiancethe consequences will change them all.

Portobello is a wonderfully complex tour de force featuring a dazzling depiction of one of Londons most intriguing neighborhoodsand the dangers beneath its newly posh veneer.