Tree of Hands
Once when Benet was about 14 they had been in a train together, alone in the carriage, and Mopsa had tried to stab her with a carving knife. It was some time since Benet had seen her mad mother. Mopsa arrived at Heathrow looking drab and colourless in a dowsy grey suit. Benet tried not to hate her. A death in the family precipitates a series of intertwined events - kidnap, murder, deception - and an overwhelming sense of guilt and yearning. A sense that is strongly identified with a bizarre collage in a hospital ward. The Tree of Hands ... With hypnotic tension and deep personal sympathy Rendell explores a world of intense, often obsessive family relationships.