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Tree of Hands, The [Mass Market Paperback]

Ruth Rendell (Author)

4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews) |

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Product Details

Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; reprint edition (January 1, 1985)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0099434709
ISBN-13: 978-0099434702
ASIN: B001KRN10I
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,731,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to put down, June 19, 2000

W. Oliver (Alabama) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Tree of Hands (Mass Market Paperback)

Like most of Ruth Rendell's novels, this is a highly readable and engrossing book. It starts out as a hearbreaking tale of a mother's love but soon takes an unexpected course that involves kidnapping and murder. The story revolves around three seemingly unrelated characters whose circumstances become intermingled, unbeknownst to them, and the pleasure of the book comes from the reader knowing what they don't know. It is highly entertaining and most recommended for readers who enjoy psychological suspense.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mother From Hell, October 28, 2006

Tom S. "filmfan3" (New York City) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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This review is from: The Tree of Hands (Mass Market Paperback)

Eek! This novel is dark and intense--even by the standards of Ruth Rendell, the Queen of Darkness and Intensity. When a troubled young woman loses her child, her none-too-tightly-wrapped mother comes up with a horrible remedy (kidnapping) for her daughter's anguish. This shocking deed causes a large cross-section of dysfunctional Brits to intersect and interact all over London, with even more horrifying results. Imagine a novel by Charles Dickens--with a really high body count.

Nobody does this sort of thing better than Ruth Rendell. That's why we love her. And this novel is one of her best. Enjoy (if that's the right word).

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like mother, like daughter, February 28, 2004

G. Underdown (Belmont, North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Tree of Hands (Hardcover)

Wow, what a book!I laughed, cried, got angry and was totally shocked at this book!The characters are so believable.Here you have this sweet, lonely woman who is trying to balance a writing carrer and raising a child on her own.Her mother: Bitter, confused and lonely herself believes that if you lose something....that's okay..."I'll get you another one."The story takes off like a roller coaster ride and ends leaving the reader totally shocked.This book would make a great motion picture!Gary

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Rendell's most touching and sensitive novels
Ruth Rendell at her best with one of her typical casts of dysfunctional adults and the intertwinng of disparate lives. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Neal C. Reynolds

5.0 out of 5 stars Rendell at her very best!
Other reviewers have well described this extremely suspenseful book by the queen of psychological suspense drama. Read more

Published on October 16, 2009 by P. B. Sharp

5.0 out of 5 stars Movie
Let me begin by confessing that I've not read the book! But I was reading the other reviews and noted one from G. Read more

Published on February 16, 2009 by Peter Brandes

4.0 out of 5 stars Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother
The Tree of Hands, at its core, is the story of three mothers. First, there is Mopsa, a recovering schizophrenic with no impulse control--whose perceptions and ideas of maternal... Read more

Published on March 14, 2008 by Baking Enthusiast

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Book
In the opening pages I honestly was not sure that I was going to like this book, it was slow and dull and I wanted to shake Benet for not standing up to her mother in some way... Read more

Published on June 7, 2006 by Justina

5.0 out of 5 stars more first-class fiction
Benet Archdale's selfish mother Margaret ("Mopsa") was mad. She once tried to stab her 14 year old daughter with a carving knife as they travelled in a train together. Read more

Published on December 21, 2003 by RachelWalker

4.0 out of 5 stars Masterful writing (if a bit bleak)
This book started out a bit of a "duty" read. After all, how could I call myself a dedicated mystery reader having read only one Vine/Rendell. Read more

Published on October 25, 2001 by Carol Peterson Hennekens

4.0 out of 5 stars Ruth Rendell excells again!
Those who love Ruth Rendell can enter her world again. Enter via
Benet's world, a world about to be shattered. Read more

Published on September 29, 2001 by Shirley Bruk

5.0 out of 5 stars another rendell gem
Rendell's middle period books are some of her finest. None of her books should EVER go out of print. Read more

Published on January 18, 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Nobody Does It Better
TREE OF HANDS has such a powerful start and such a wrenching premise that I forgave its rather (though not totally) disappointing conclusion. As E.M. Read more

Published on March 18, 2000

› See all 15 customer reviews...

Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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First Sentence:
ONCE, WHEN BENET WAS ABOUT FOURTEEN, THEY HAD been in a train together, alone in the carriage, and Mopsa had tried to stab her with a carving knife. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
motorbike boys

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Terence Wand, Winterside Down, Spring Close, Carol Stratford, Lordship Avenue, Dennis Gordon, Rudyard Gardens, Vale of Peace, Ian Raeburn, Jason Stratford, Blue Hair, Constance Fenton, John Howard Phipps, Winterside Road, Black Beauty, The Marriage Knot, Bevan Square, Heath Street, John Phipps, Royal Eastern, Summerskill Road, Barbara Lloyd, Barry Mahon, Rosslyn Park, Tom Woodhouse

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 21 books:

The Lake of Darkness by Ruth Rendell in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Master of the Moor by Ruth Rendell in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Killing Doll by Ruth Rendell in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Best Man to Die (Chief Inspector Wexford Mysteries) by Ruth Rendell in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 21 books this book cites

23 books cite this book:

Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell on 4 pages
Veiled One by Ruth Rendell in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
To Fear a Painted Devil by Ruth Rendell in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
Wolf to the Slaughter (Chief Inspector Wexford Mysteries) by Ruth Rendell in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter

See all 23 books citing this book

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