The Minotaur (novel)

The Minotaur is a novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, written under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. It was first published in 2005.

Plot summary

Kerstin Kvist didn't quite know what to expect when she took up a job with the Cosway family at their odd, almost grand home, Lydstep Old Hall, deep in the Essex countryside. The family turned out to be even odder than the house: the widowed Mrs Cosway lived with her three unmarried daughters, in thrall to the old lady. A mysterious fourth daughter - a widow herself and apparently quite rich - came and went, with ill-disguised contempt for the others. More puzzling still was Mrs Cosway's son, John, a sad, self-absorbed figure in his thirties who haunted the house. "There's madness in the family", offered one of the daughters by way of explanation, but Kerstin had trained as a nurse and knew it wasn't right to be administering such powerful drugs to a vulnerable figure like John.

External links

• Review from The Sunday Times
• Review from MysteryInk
• Review from The Observer
• Review from The Washington Post
• Review from Boston.Com
• Author interview from The Telegraph from time of publication