Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one., 28 Apr 2008
This is rubens at her naughtiest - bad language, kinky sex, blackmail, even chat lines - all the works - and all in a home for the aged believe it or not ! This is the sort of home i want my kids to book me into, and i don`t mind going early !!
It`s all going on in here...
Well done rubes !!

Stunning, 03 Jun 2003
Who would have known all the things that can happen in a home for the elderly.... Bernice Rubens obviously does and she tells us with all her own peculiar wit! A great read!

"Who, if anybody, will I survive today?", 08 Jun 2002
As usual, Rubens gets under your skin and provokes a reaction, unflinchingly portraying a realism in her characters that will have you shocked, delighted, grinning knowingly - but always involved in the schemes and desires of her characters.

Hollyhocks is a classy rest-home, but rather than sleepy, medicated old dears, this home seethes with sharp instincts, and sharper tongues, making secrets hard to keep, and hope hard to kill. Extortion, blackmail, deviant sexual practices and incontinence:- If this is old age, count me in !

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one., 28 Apr 2008
This is rubens at her naughtiest - bad language, kinky sex, blackmail, even chat lines - all the works - and all in a home for the aged believe it or not ! This is the sort of home i want my kids to book me into, and i don`t mind going early !!
It`s all going on in here...
Well done rubes !!

Stunning, 03 Jun 2003
Who would have known all the things that can happen in a home for the elderly.... Bernice Rubens obviously does and she tells us with all her own peculiar wit! A great read!

"Who, if anybody, will I survive today?", 08 Jun 2002
As usual, Rubens gets under your skin and provokes a reaction, unflinchingly portraying a realism in her characters that will have you shocked, delighted, grinning knowingly - but always involved in the schemes and desires of her characters.

Hollyhocks is a classy rest-home, but rather than sleepy, medicated old dears, this home seethes with sharp instincts, and sharper tongues, making secrets hard to keep, and hope hard to kill. Extortion, blackmail, deviant sexual practices and incontinence:- If this is old age, count me in !

An excellent novel, 13 Jan 2008
Luke Wakefield is a failure. He has been a loser all his life. Even his failure is a failure. One day is queuing at the post office when the man in front of him simply falls dead. Luke decides to pocket the dead man's final epistle and leave the post office. Back at home he discovers that the letter was written by a Sebastian Firbank to his wife Marian Firbank in which he unmistakably states that he killed her. This event takes Luke on his mission to trace Marion's relatives, a long and patient investigation and a search which will in itself enrich his otherwise empty life.
In this entertaining and very well written novel we see a man bewitched by the death of a woman he has never met. His `crusade' to find her body is fuelled by the bleakness of his personal life and takes the form of a bizarre chase leading to an astonishing conclusion and unexpected happiness. Unusual and intriguing. Definitely worth reading.

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one., 28 Apr 2008
This is rubens at her naughtiest - bad language, kinky sex, blackmail, even chat lines - all the works - and all in a home for the aged believe it or not ! This is the sort of home i want my kids to book me into, and i don`t mind going early !!
It`s all going on in here...
Well done rubes !!

Stunning, 03 Jun 2003
Who would have known all the things that can happen in a home for the elderly.... Bernice Rubens obviously does and she tells us with all her own peculiar wit! A great read!

"Who, if anybody, will I survive today?", 08 Jun 2002
As usual, Rubens gets under your skin and provokes a reaction, unflinchingly portraying a realism in her characters that will have you shocked, delighted, grinning knowingly - but always involved in the schemes and desires of her characters.

Hollyhocks is a classy rest-home, but rather than sleepy, medicated old dears, this home seethes with sharp instincts, and sharper tongues, making secrets hard to keep, and hope hard to kill. Extortion, blackmail, deviant sexual practices and incontinence:- If this is old age, count me in !

An excellent novel, 13 Jan 2008
Luke Wakefield is a failure. He has been a loser all his life. Even his failure is a failure. One day is queuing at the post office when the man in front of him simply falls dead. Luke decides to pocket the dead man's final epistle and leave the post office. Back at home he discovers that the letter was written by a Sebastian Firbank to his wife Marian Firbank in which he unmistakably states that he killed her. This event takes Luke on his mission to trace Marion's relatives, a long and patient investigation and a search which will in itself enrich his otherwise empty life.
In this entertaining and very well written novel we see a man bewitched by the death of a woman he has never met. His `crusade' to find her body is fuelled by the bleakness of his personal life and takes the form of a bizarre chase leading to an astonishing conclusion and unexpected happiness. Unusual and intriguing. Definitely worth reading.


Strikingly original, 11 Nov 2007
The originality of "Nine Lives" lies in the fact that it is not a mystery in the conventional sense. We know from the start who the killer is, as he relates his murders in a journal. Donald Dorrick's victims are all psychotherapists and they are all killed in the same manner, garrotted with a guitar string. Donald leaves no clues behind and, though the police investigation by the amiable, persistent and ever-baffled Inspector Wilkins, will appear perfunctory to the point of incredibility, to readers of crime fiction this is quite clearly intentional.
Interest is directed not to the crimes but to the characters: the character of the killer, Donald, and his wife, Verry. They have had a happy marriage, Verry cherishing in particular memories of holidays on the beach at Margate with their twin sons Mathew and Martin. Verry is the ideal wife for a serial killer: she asks no questions, and therefore need be told no important lies. For her, he is "my Donald", a loving husband and adequate provider.
The oddity, which is also the question the reader is encouraged to ask, is that, while, admitting cheerfully to the murders, he declares repeatedly that he is "innocent". When Verry visits him in prison Donald's first remark is, nearly always: "You do believe I'm innocent, don't you?"
The novel is not really about murders. The killings are necessary incidents. It's more about love in its many different forms: love that can corrupt and deform, love that asks no question even when it should, love that is both protective and self-protective. And it is all done with such a light touch that readers may not realise how truly serious the novel is till you have finished it, and then pause to reflect.
The book is beautifully narrated by Di Langford for ISIS Publishing.


Rather dull and predictable., 03 Aug 2002
I bought this novel after reading a number of good reviews for it in the press, and wonder if I read the same book as the critics. I thought the style, structure and plotting monotonous, the characterization flat and stereotyped. It fails to succeed as detective fiction (you know who 'did it' and can easily guess why), as a satire on psychotherapy (too unsubtle and generalized) or as a portrait of everyday evil (you don't believe a word of it & the tone seems misplaced). I did laugh out loud a couple times; but Ms Rubens ain't a Tom Sharpe or a Dame Muriel Spark.

A witty and thought-provoking novel, 31 Jul 2002
Nine Lives has depth, an unsettling wit and enjoyably sinister overtones. The author casts a cool, yet compassionate eye over Verine's struggles to understand the conundrum that is her husband's conviction and his self-proclaimed innocence.

Verine is a woman loyal beyond reason. She may shrink - no pun intended! - from confrontation, but resentful and critical thoughts increasingly intrude on her determination to deny the truth. Donald is a more enigmatic character, outwardly a bland, loving husband and father, whose inner world is revealed in his secret diary.

DI Wilkins is PC Plod, baffled by the ingenious, but horrible crimes being committed. Police procedurals are obviously not of interest to the author, which is a shame as the chapters dealing with police detection feel clunky, old fashioned and unconvincing. However, as a character, DI Wilkins is endearing and humane in his determination to discover the murderer.

The chapters dealing with the murders are vivid and paint gripping vignettes between victim and killer. Equally colourful, are the scenes crowded by secondary characters such as the bereaved families, the curious neighbours and the bitchy friends.

Whilst the repetitive narrative device becomes a slightly predictable and somewhat dulls the drama of the story, I kept reading as this is an intelligent, funny and thought-provoking novel.

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one., 28 Apr 2008
This is rubens at her naughtiest - bad language, kinky sex, blackmail, even chat lines - all the works - and all in a home for the aged believe it or not ! This is the sort of home i want my kids to book me into, and i don`t mind going early !!
It`s all going on in here...
Well done rubes !!

Stunning, 03 Jun 2003
Who would have known all the things that can happen in a home for the elderly.... Bernice Rubens obviously does and she tells us with all her own peculiar wit! A great read!

"Who, if anybody, will I survive today?", 08 Jun 2002
As usual, Rubens gets under your skin and provokes a reaction, unflinchingly portraying a realism in her characters that will have you shocked, delighted, grinning knowingly - but always involved in the schemes and desires of her characters.

Hollyhocks is a classy rest-home, but rather than sleepy, medicated old dears, this home seethes with sharp instincts, and sharper tongues, making secrets hard to keep, and hope hard to kill. Extortion, blackmail, deviant sexual practices and incontinence:- If this is old age, count me in !

An excellent novel, 13 Jan 2008
Luke Wakefield is a failure. He has been a loser all his life. Even his failure is a failure. One day is queuing at the post office when the man in front of him simply falls dead. Luke decides to pocket the dead man's final epistle and leave the post office. Back at home he discovers that the letter was written by a Sebastian Firbank to his wife Marian Firbank in which he unmistakably states that he killed her. This event takes Luke on his mission to trace Marion's relatives, a long and patient investigation and a search which will in itself enrich his otherwise empty life.
In this entertaining and very well written novel we see a man bewitched by the death of a woman he has never met. His `crusade' to find her body is fuelled by the bleakness of his personal life and takes the form of a bizarre chase leading to an astonishing conclusion and unexpected happiness. Unusual and intriguing. Definitely worth reading.


Strikingly original, 11 Nov 2007
The originality of "Nine Lives" lies in the fact that it is not a mystery in the conventional sense. We know from the start who the killer is, as he relates his murders in a journal. Donald Dorrick's victims are all psychotherapists and they are all killed in the same manner, garrotted with a guitar string. Donald leaves no clues behind and, though the police investigation by the amiable, persistent and ever-baffled Inspector Wilkins, will appear perfunctory to the point of incredibility, to readers of crime fiction this is quite clearly intentional.
Interest is directed not to the crimes but to the characters: the character of the killer, Donald, and his wife, Verry. They have had a happy marriage, Verry cherishing in particular memories of holidays on the beach at Margate with their twin sons Mathew and Martin. Verry is the ideal wife for a serial killer: she asks no questions, and therefore need be told no important lies. For her, he is "my Donald", a loving husband and adequate provider.
The oddity, which is also the question the reader is encouraged to ask, is that, while, admitting cheerfully to the murders, he declares repeatedly that he is "innocent". When Verry visits him in prison Donald's first remark is, nearly always: "You do believe I'm innocent, don't you?"
The novel is not really about murders. The killings are necessary incidents. It's more about love in its many different forms: love that can corrupt and deform, love that asks no question even when it should, love that is both protective and self-protective. And it is all done with such a light touch that readers may not realise how truly serious the novel is till you have finished it, and then pause to reflect.
The book is beautifully narrated by Di Langford for ISIS Publishing.


Rather dull and predictable., 03 Aug 2002
I bought this novel after reading a number of good reviews for it in the press, and wonder if I read the same book as the critics. I thought the style, structure and plotting monotonous, the characterization flat and stereotyped. It fails to succeed as detective fiction (you know who 'did it' and can easily guess why), as a satire on psychotherapy (too unsubtle and generalized) or as a portrait of everyday evil (you don't believe a word of it & the tone seems misplaced). I did laugh out loud a couple times; but Ms Rubens ain't a Tom Sharpe or a Dame Muriel Spark.

A witty and thought-provoking novel, 31 Jul 2002
Nine Lives has depth, an unsettling wit and enjoyably sinister overtones. The author casts a cool, yet compassionate eye over Verine's struggles to understand the conundrum that is her husband's conviction and his self-proclaimed innocence.

Verine is a woman loyal beyond reason. She may shrink - no pun intended! - from confrontation, but resentful and critical thoughts increasingly intrude on her determination to deny the truth. Donald is a more enigmatic character, outwardly a bland, loving husband and father, whose inner world is revealed in his secret diary.

DI Wilkins is PC Plod, baffled by the ingenious, but horrible crimes being committed. Police procedurals are obviously not of interest to the author, which is a shame as the chapters dealing with police detection feel clunky, old fashioned and unconvincing. However, as a character, DI Wilkins is endearing and humane in his determination to discover the murderer.

The chapters dealing with the murders are vivid and paint gripping vignettes between victim and killer. Equally colourful, are the scenes crowded by secondary characters such as the bereaved families, the curious neighbours and the bitchy friends.

Whilst the repetitive narrative device becomes a slightly predictable and somewhat dulls the drama of the story, I kept reading as this is an intelligent, funny and thought-provoking novel.

Thought provoking., 11 Jan 2008
While you knew it was wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for taking a life, you didn`t want bron to speak up and admit that it was her `whodunnit.`
She was always going to be the victim.
This story plays with your emotions in such a way that you`re not sure of your opinions any more when it comes to right and wrong.
I absolutely loved this unusual story - it certainly has you `on the edge of your seat.`

Deeply moving tale., 22 Feb 2007
When Bronwen is 17 a man attacks her and tries to rape her. She stabs him to death and amazingly never gets found out for her crime. Instead, an innocent man goes to the gallows. As a result Bronwen spends the next 50 years unable to have a fulfilling relationship of any sort. This is a deeply moving story that Rubens has written extremely skillfully.

Guilt-ridden heart-breaker, 05 Jun 2000
I dare any woman to read this book and not say - there but for the grace of God. While still a schoolgirl Bronwen kills a man rather than let him rape her - and then spends the next 50 years living with the consequences of her actions. She refuses to speak up even when a man she knows to be innocent goes to the gallows for the crime she committed. To punish herself for her unspeakable sin, she refuses to let herself enjoy love and sex, success and, indeed, life. Rubens dissects this woman's life and relationship with the sharpness of a scalpel and the insight of a psychic. The narrative has a beautiful Welsh lilt of the town where it is set and has the power to shock as well as intensely move its reader. It is a gripping study of loss, love, retribution, denial, loneliness and family ties. Superb.

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one., 28 Apr 2008
This is rubens at her naughtiest - bad language, kinky sex, blackmail, even chat lines - all the works - and all in a home for the aged believe it or not ! This is the sort of home i want my kids to book me into, and i don`t mind going early !!
It`s all going on in here...
Well done rubes !!

Stunning, 03 Jun 2003
Who would have known all the things that can happen in a home for the elderly.... Bernice Rubens obviously does and she tells us with all her own peculiar wit! A great read!

"Who, if anybody, will I survive today?", 08 Jun 2002
As usual, Rubens gets under your skin and provokes a reaction, unflinchingly portraying a realism in her characters that will have you shocked, delighted, grinning knowingly - but always involved in the schemes and desires of her characters.

Hollyhocks is a classy rest-home, but rather than sleepy, medicated old dears, this home seethes with sharp instincts, and sharper tongues, making secrets hard to keep, and hope hard to kill. Extortion, blackmail, deviant sexual practices and incontinence:- If this is old age, count me in !

An excellent novel, 13 Jan 2008
Luke Wakefield is a failure. He has been a loser all his life. Even his failure is a failure. One day is queuing at the post office when the man in front of him simply falls dead. Luke decides to pocket the dead man's final epistle and leave the post office. Back at home he discovers that the letter was written by a Sebastian Firbank to his wife Marian Firbank in which he unmistakably states that he killed her. This event takes Luke on his mission to trace Marion's relatives, a long and patient investigation and a search which will in itself enrich his otherwise empty life.
In this entertaining and very well written novel we see a man bewitched by the death of a woman he has never met. His `crusade' to find her body is fuelled by the bleakness of his personal life and takes the form of a bizarre chase leading to an astonishing conclusion and unexpected happiness. Unusual and intriguing. Definitely worth reading.


Strikingly original, 11 Nov 2007
The originality of "Nine Lives" lies in the fact that it is not a mystery in the conventional sense. We know from the start who the killer is, as he relates his murders in a journal. Donald Dorrick's victims are all psychotherapists and they are all killed in the same manner, garrotted with a guitar string. Donald leaves no clues behind and, though the police investigation by the amiable, persistent and ever-baffled Inspector Wilkins, will appear perfunctory to the point of incredibility, to readers of crime fiction this is quite clearly intentional.
Interest is directed not to the crimes but to the characters: the character of the killer, Donald, and his wife, Verry. They have had a happy marriage, Verry cherishing in particular memories of holidays on the beach at Margate with their twin sons Mathew and Martin. Verry is the ideal wife for a serial killer: she asks no questions, and therefore need be told no important lies. For her, he is "my Donald", a loving husband and adequate provider.
The oddity, which is also the question the reader is encouraged to ask, is that, while, admitting cheerfully to the murders, he declares repeatedly that he is "innocent". When Verry visits him in prison Donald's first remark is, nearly always: "You do believe I'm innocent, don't you?"
The novel is not really about murders. The killings are necessary incidents. It's more about love in its many different forms: love that can corrupt and deform, love that asks no question even when it should, love that is both protective and self-protective. And it is all done with such a light touch that readers may not realise how truly serious the novel is till you have finished it, and then pause to reflect.
The book is beautifully narrated by Di Langford for ISIS Publishing.


Rather dull and predictable., 03 Aug 2002
I bought this novel after reading a number of good reviews for it in the press, and wonder if I read the same book as the critics. I thought the style, structure and plotting monotonous, the characterization flat and stereotyped. It fails to succeed as detective fiction (you know who 'did it' and can easily guess why), as a satire on psychotherapy (too unsubtle and generalized) or as a portrait of everyday evil (you don't believe a word of it & the tone seems misplaced). I did laugh out loud a couple times; but Ms Rubens ain't a Tom Sharpe or a Dame Muriel Spark.

A witty and thought-provoking novel, 31 Jul 2002
Nine Lives has depth, an unsettling wit and enjoyably sinister overtones. The author casts a cool, yet compassionate eye over Verine's struggles to understand the conundrum that is her husband's conviction and his self-proclaimed innocence.

Verine is a woman loyal beyond reason. She may shrink - no pun intended! - from confrontation, but resentful and critical thoughts increasingly intrude on her determination to deny the truth. Donald is a more enigmatic character, outwardly a bland, loving husband and father, whose inner world is revealed in his secret diary.

DI Wilkins is PC Plod, baffled by the ingenious, but horrible crimes being committed. Police procedurals are obviously not of interest to the author, which is a shame as the chapters dealing with police detection feel clunky, old fashioned and unconvincing. However, as a character, DI Wilkins is endearing and humane in his determination to discover the murderer.

The chapters dealing with the murders are vivid and paint gripping vignettes between victim and killer. Equally colourful, are the scenes crowded by secondary characters such as the bereaved families, the curious neighbours and the bitchy friends.

Whilst the repetitive narrative device becomes a slightly predictable and somewhat dulls the drama of the story, I kept reading as this is an intelligent, funny and thought-provoking novel.

Thought provoking., 11 Jan 2008
While you knew it was wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for taking a life, you didn`t want bron to speak up and admit that it was her `whodunnit.`
She was always going to be the victim.
This story plays with your emotions in such a way that you`re not sure of your opinions any more when it comes to right and wrong.
I absolutely loved this unusual story - it certainly has you `on the edge of your seat.`

Deeply moving tale., 22 Feb 2007
When Bronwen is 17 a man attacks her and tries to rape her. She stabs him to death and amazingly never gets found out for her crime. Instead, an innocent man goes to the gallows. As a result Bronwen spends the next 50 years unable to have a fulfilling relationship of any sort. This is a deeply moving story that Rubens has written extremely skillfully.

Guilt-ridden heart-breaker, 05 Jun 2000
I dare any woman to read this book and not say - there but for the grace of God. While still a schoolgirl Bronwen kills a man rather than let him rape her - and then spends the next 50 years living with the consequences of her actions. She refuses to speak up even when a man she knows to be innocent goes to the gallows for the crime she committed. To punish herself for her unspeakable sin, she refuses to let herself enjoy love and sex, success and, indeed, life. Rubens dissects this woman's life and relationship with the sharpness of a scalpel and the insight of a psychic. The narrative has a beautiful Welsh lilt of the town where it is set and has the power to shock as well as intensely move its reader. It is a gripping study of loss, love, retribution, denial, loneliness and family ties. Superb.

Thought provoking., 11 Jan 2008
While you knew it was wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for taking a life, you didn`t want bron to speak up and admit that it was her `whodunnit.`
She was always going to be the victim.
This story plays with your emotions in such a way that you`re not sure of your opinions any more when it comes to right and wrong.
I absolutely loved this unusual story - it certainly has you `on the edge of your seat.`

Deeply moving tale., 22 Feb 2007
When Bronwen is 17 a man attacks her and tries to rape her. She stabs him to death and amazingly never gets found out for her crime. Instead, an innocent man goes to the gallows. As a result Bronwen spends the next 50 years unable to have a fulfilling relationship of any sort. This is a deeply moving story that Rubens has written extremely skillfully.

Guilt-ridden heart-breaker, 05 Jun 2000
I dare any woman to read this book and not say - there but for the grace of God. While still a schoolgirl Bronwen kills a man rather than let him rape her - and then spends the next 50 years living with the consequences of her actions. She refuses to speak up even when a man she knows to be innocent goes to the gallows for the crime she committed. To punish herself for her unspeakable sin, she refuses to let herself enjoy love and sex, success and, indeed, life. Rubens dissects this woman's life and relationship with the sharpness of a scalpel and the insight of a psychic. The narrative has a beautiful Welsh lilt of the town where it is set and has the power to shock as well as intensely move its reader. It is a gripping study of loss, love, retribution, denial, loneliness and family ties. Superb.

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one., 28 Apr 2008
This is rubens at her naughtiest - bad language, kinky sex, blackmail, even chat lines - all the works - and all in a home for the aged believe it or not ! This is the sort of home i want my kids to book me into, and i don`t mind going early !!
It`s all going on in here...
Well done rubes !!

Stunning, 03 Jun 2003
Who would have known all the things that can happen in a home for the elderly.... Bernice Rubens obviously does and she tells us with all her own peculiar wit! A great read!

"Who, if anybody, will I survive today?", 08 Jun 2002
As usual, Rubens gets under your skin and provokes a reaction, unflinchingly portraying a realism in her characters that will have you shocked, delighted, grinning knowingly - but always involved in the schemes and desires of her characters.

Hollyhocks is a classy rest-home, but rather than sleepy, medicated old dears, this home seethes with sharp instincts, and sharper tongues, making secrets hard to keep, and hope hard to kill. Extortion, blackmail, deviant sexual practices and incontinence:- If this is old age, count me in !

An excellent novel, 13 Jan 2008
Luke Wakefield is a failure. He has been a loser all his life. Even his failure is a failure. One day is queuing at the post office when the man in front of him simply falls dead. Luke decides to pocket the dead man's final epistle and leave the post office. Back at home he discovers that the letter was written by a Sebastian Firbank to his wife Marian Firbank in which he unmistakably states that he killed her. This event takes Luke on his mission to trace Marion's relatives, a long and patient investigation and a search which will in itself enrich his otherwise empty life.
In this entertaining and very well written novel we see a man bewitched by the death of a woman he has never met. His `crusade' to find her body is fuelled by the bleakness of his personal life and takes the form of a bizarre chase leading to an astonishing conclusion and unexpected happiness. Unusual and intriguing. Definitely worth reading.


Strikingly original, 11 Nov 2007
The originality of "Nine Lives" lies in the fact that it is not a mystery in the conventional sense. We know from the start who the killer is, as he relates his murders in a journal. Donald Dorrick's victims are all psychotherapists and they are all killed in the same manner, garrotted with a guitar string. Donald leaves no clues behind and, though the police investigation by the amiable, persistent and ever-baffled Inspector Wilkins, will appear perfunctory to the point of incredibility, to readers of crime fiction this is quite clearly intentional.
Interest is directed not to the crimes but to the characters: the character of the killer, Donald, and his wife, Verry. They have had a happy marriage, Verry cherishing in particular memories of holidays on the beach at Margate with their twin sons Mathew and Martin. Verry is the ideal wife for a serial killer: she asks no questions, and therefore need be told no important lies. For her, he is "my Donald", a loving husband and adequate provider.
The oddity, which is also the question the reader is encouraged to ask, is that, while, admitting cheerfully to the murders, he declares repeatedly that he is "innocent". When Verry visits him in prison Donald's first remark is, nearly always: "You do believe I'm innocent, don't you?"
The novel is not really about murders. The killings are necessary incidents. It's more about love in its many different forms: love that can corrupt and deform, love that asks no question even when it should, love that is both protective and self-protective. And it is all done with such a light touch that readers may not realise how truly serious the novel is till you have finished it, and then pause to reflect.
The book is beautifully narrated by Di Langford for ISIS Publishing.


Rather dull and predictable., 03 Aug 2002
I bought this novel after reading a number of good reviews for it in the press, and wonder if I read the same book as the critics. I thought the style, structure and plotting monotonous, the characterization flat and stereotyped. It fails to succeed as detective fiction (you know who 'did it' and can easily guess why), as a satire on psychotherapy (too unsubtle and generalized) or as a portrait of everyday evil (you don't believe a word of it & the tone seems misplaced). I did laugh out loud a couple times; but Ms Rubens ain't a Tom Sharpe or a Dame Muriel Spark.

A witty and thought-provoking novel, 31 Jul 2002
Nine Lives has depth, an unsettling wit and enjoyably sinister overtones. The author casts a cool, yet compassionate eye over Verine's struggles to understand the conundrum that is her husband's conviction and his self-proclaimed innocence.

Verine is a woman loyal beyond reason. She may shrink - no pun intended! - from confrontation, but resentful and critical thoughts increasingly intrude on her determination to deny the truth. Donald is a more enigmatic character, outwardly a bland, loving husband and father, whose inner world is revealed in his secret diary.

DI Wilkins is PC Plod, baffled by the ingenious, but horrible crimes being committed. Police procedurals are obviously not of interest to the author, which is a shame as the chapters dealing with police detection feel clunky, old fashioned and unconvincing. However, as a character, DI Wilkins is endearing and humane in his determination to discover the murderer.

The chapters dealing with the murders are vivid and paint gripping vignettes between victim and killer. Equally colourful, are the scenes crowded by secondary characters such as the bereaved families, the curious neighbours and the bitchy friends.

Whilst the repetitive narrative device becomes a slightly predictable and somewhat dulls the drama of the story, I kept reading as this is an intelligent, funny and thought-provoking novel.

Thought provoking., 11 Jan 2008
While you knew it was wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for taking a life, you didn`t want bron to speak up and admit that it was her `whodunnit.`
She was always going to be the victim.
This story plays with your emotions in such a way that you`re not sure of your opinions any more when it comes to right and wrong.
I absolutely loved this unusual story - it certainly has you `on the edge of your seat.`

Deeply moving tale., 22 Feb 2007
When Bronwen is 17 a man attacks her and tries to rape her. She stabs him to death and amazingly never gets found out for her crime. Instead, an innocent man goes to the gallows. As a result Bronwen spends the next 50 years unable to have a fulfilling relationship of any sort. This is a deeply moving story that Rubens has written extremely skillfully.

Guilt-ridden heart-breaker, 05 Jun 2000
I dare any woman to read this book and not say - there but for the grace of God. While still a schoolgirl Bronwen kills a man rather than let him rape her - and then spends the next 50 years living with the consequences of her actions. She refuses to speak up even when a man she knows to be innocent goes to the gallows for the crime she committed. To punish herself for her unspeakable sin, she refuses to let herself enjoy love and sex, success and, indeed, life. Rubens dissects this woman's life and relationship with the sharpness of a scalpel and the insight of a psychic. The narrative has a beautiful Welsh lilt of the town where it is set and has the power to shock as well as intensely move its reader. It is a gripping study of loss, love, retribution, denial, loneliness and family ties. Superb.

Thought provoking., 11 Jan 2008
While you knew it was wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for taking a life, you didn`t want bron to speak up and admit that it was her `whodunnit.`
She was always going to be the victim.
This story plays with your emotions in such a way that you`re not sure of your opinions any more when it comes to right and wrong.
I absolutely loved this unusual story - it certainly has you `on the edge of your seat.`

Deeply moving tale., 22 Feb 2007
When Bronwen is 17 a man attacks her and tries to rape her. She stabs him to death and amazingly never gets found out for her crime. Instead, an innocent man goes to the gallows. As a result Bronwen spends the next 50 years unable to have a fulfilling relationship of any sort. This is a deeply moving story that Rubens has written extremely skillfully.

Guilt-ridden heart-breaker, 05 Jun 2000
I dare any woman to read this book and not say - there but for the grace of God. While still a schoolgirl Bronwen kills a man rather than let him rape her - and then spends the next 50 years living with the consequences of her actions. She refuses to speak up even when a man she knows to be innocent goes to the gallows for the crime she committed. To punish herself for her unspeakable sin, she refuses to let herself enjoy love and sex, success and, indeed, life. Rubens dissects this woman's life and relationship with the sharpness of a scalpel and the insight of a psychic. The narrative has a beautiful Welsh lilt of the town where it is set and has the power to shock as well as intensely move its reader. It is a gripping study of loss, love, retribution, denial, loneliness and family ties. Superb.

Wonderful, 06 Oct 2008
Wonderfully sad, you want Amy (the main character) to succeed in life but know when reading that despite everything she's going to end up exactly as she does; fat and lonely, looking after her brother whom her mother loved more than her. Somehow avoids being depressing and remains a beautiful story. Worth a read!

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one., 28 Apr 2008
This is rubens at her naughtiest - bad language, kinky sex, blackmail, even chat lines - all the works - and all in a home for the aged believe it or not ! This is the sort of home i want my kids to book me into, and i don`t mind going early !!
It`s all going on in here...
Well done rubes !!

Stunning, 03 Jun 2003
Who would have known all the things that can happen in a home for the elderly.... Bernice Rubens obviously does and she tells us with all her own peculiar wit! A great read!

"Who, if anybody, will I survive today?", 08 Jun 2002
As usual, Rubens gets under your skin and provokes a reaction, unflinchingly portraying a realism in her characters that will have you shocked, delighted, grinning knowingly - but always involved in the schemes and desires of her characters.

Hollyhocks is a classy rest-home, but rather than sleepy, medicated old dears, this home seethes with sharp instincts, and sharper tongues, making secrets hard to keep, and hope hard to kill. Extortion, blackmail, deviant sexual practices and incontinence:- If this is old age, count me in !

An excellent novel, 13 Jan 2008
Luke Wakefield is a failure. He has been a loser all his life. Even his failure is a failure. One day is queuing at the post office when the man in front of him simply falls dead. Luke decides to pocket the dead man's final epistle and leave the post office. Back at home he discovers that the letter was written by a Sebastian Firbank to his wife Marian Firbank in which he unmistakably states that he killed her. This event takes Luke on his mission to trace Marion's relatives, a long and patient investigation and a search which will in itself enrich his otherwise empty life.
In this entertaining and very well written novel we see a man bewitched by the death of a woman he has never met. His `crusade' to find her body is fuelled by the bleakness of his personal life and takes the form of a bizarre chase leading to an astonishing conclusion and unexpected happiness. Unusual and intriguing. Definitely worth reading.


Strikingly original, 11 Nov 2007
The originality of "Nine Lives" lies in the fact that it is not a mystery in the conventional sense. We know from the start who the killer is, as he relates his murders in a journal. Donald Dorrick's victims are all psychotherapists and they are all killed in the same manner, garrotted with a guitar string. Donald leaves no clues behind and, though the police investigation by the amiable, persistent and ever-baffled Inspector Wilkins, will appear perfunctory to the point of incredibility, to readers of crime fiction this is quite clearly intentional.
Interest is directed not to the crimes but to the characters: the character of the killer, Donald, and his wife, Verry. They have had a happy marriage, Verry cherishing in particular memories of holidays on the beach at Margate with their twin sons Mathew and Martin. Verry is the ideal wife for a serial killer: she asks no questions, and therefore need be told no important lies. For her, he is "my Donald", a loving husband and adequate provider.
The oddity, which is also the question the reader is encouraged to ask, is that, while, admitting cheerfully to the murders, he declares repeatedly that he is "innocent". When Verry visits him in prison Donald's first remark is, nearly always: "You do believe I'm innocent, don't you?"
The novel is not really about murders. The killings are necessary incidents. It's more about love in its many different forms: love that can corrupt and deform, love that asks no question even when it should, love that is both protective and self-protective. And it is all done with such a light touch that readers may not realise how truly serious the novel is till you have finished it, and then pause to reflect.
The book is beautifully narrated by Di Langford for ISIS Publishing.


Rather dull and predictable., 03 Aug 2002
I bought this novel after reading a number of good reviews for it in the press, and wonder if I read the same book as the critics. I thought the style, structure and plotting monotonous, the characterization flat and stereotyped. It fails to succeed as detective fiction (you know who 'did it' and can easily guess why), as a satire on psychotherapy (too unsubtle and generalized) or as a portrait of everyday evil (you don't believe a word of it & the tone seems misplaced). I did laugh out loud a couple times; but Ms Rubens ain't a Tom Sharpe or a Dame Muriel Spark.

A witty and thought-provoking novel, 31 Jul 2002
Nine Lives has depth, an unsettling wit and enjoyably sinister overtones. The author casts a cool, yet compassionate eye over Verine's struggles to understand the conundrum that is her husband's conviction and his self-proclaimed innocence.

Verine is a woman loyal beyond reason. She may shrink - no pun intended! - from confrontation, but resentful and critical thoughts increasingly intrude on her determination to deny the truth. Donald is a more enigmatic character, outwardly a bland, loving husband and father, whose inner world is revealed in his secret diary.

DI Wilkins is PC Plod, baffled by the ingenious, but horrible crimes being committed. Police procedurals are obviously not of interest to the author, which is a shame as the chapters dealing with police detection feel clunky, old fashioned and unconvincing. However, as a character, DI Wilkins is endearing and humane in his determination to discover the murderer.

The chapters dealing with the murders are vivid and paint gripping vignettes between victim and killer. Equally colourful, are the scenes crowded by secondary characters such as the bereaved families, the curious neighbours and the bitchy friends.

Whilst the repetitive narrative device becomes a slightly predictable and somewhat dulls the drama of the story, I kept reading as this is an intelligent, funny and thought-provoking novel.

Thought provoking., 11 Jan 2008
While you knew it was wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for taking a life, you didn`t want bron to speak up and admit that it was her `whodunnit.`
She was always going to be the victim.
This story plays with your emotions in such a way that you`re not sure of your opinions any more when it comes to right and wrong.
I absolutely loved this unusual story - it certainly has you `on the edge of your seat.`

Deeply moving tale., 22 Feb 2007
When Bronwen is 17 a man attacks her and tries to rape her. She stabs him to death and amazingly never gets found out for her crime. Instead, an innocent man goes to the gallows. As a result Bronwen spends the next 50 years unable to have a fulfilling relationship of any sort. This is a deeply moving story that Rubens has written extremely skillfully.

Guilt-ridden heart-breaker, 05 Jun 2000
I dare any woman to read this book and not say - there but for the grace of God. While still a schoolgirl Bronwen kills a man rather than let him rape her - and then spends the next 50 years living with the consequences of her actions. She refuses to speak up even when a man she knows to be innocent goes to the gallows for the crime she committed. To punish herself for her unspeakable sin, she refuses to let herself enjoy love and sex, success and, indeed, life. Rubens dissects this woman's life and relationship with the sharpness of a scalpel and the insight of a psychic. The narrative has a beautiful Welsh lilt of the town where it is set and has the power to shock as well as intensely move its reader. It is a gripping study of loss, love, retribution, denial, loneliness and family ties. Superb.

Thought provoking., 11 Jan 2008
While you knew it was wrong that an innocent man was paying the price for taking a life, you didn`t want bron to speak up and admit that it was her `whodunnit.`
She was always going to be the victim.
This story plays with your emotions in such a way that you`re not sure of your opinions any more when it comes to right and wrong.
I absolutely loved this unusual story - it certainly has you `on the edge of your seat.`

Deeply moving tale., 22 Feb 2007
When Bronwen is 17 a man attacks her and tries to rape her. She stabs him to death and amazingly never gets found out for her crime. Instead, an innocent man goes to the gallows. As a result Bronwen spends the next 50 years unable to have a fulfilling relationship of any sort. This is a deeply moving story that Rubens has written extremely skillfully.

Guilt-ridden heart-breaker, 05 Jun 2000
I dare any woman to read this book and not say - there but for the grace of God. While still a schoolgirl Bronwen kills a man rather than let him rape her - and then spends the next 50 years living with the consequences of her actions. She refuses to speak up even when a man she knows to be innocent goes to the gallows for the crime she committed. To punish herself for her unspeakable sin, she refuses to let herself enjoy love and sex, success and, indeed, life. Rubens dissects this woman's life and relationship with the sharpness of a scalpel and the insight of a psychic. The narrative has a beautiful Welsh lilt of the town where it is set and has the power to shock as well as intensely move its reader. It is a gripping study of loss, love, retribution, denial, loneliness and family ties. Superb.

Wonderful, 06 Oct 2008
Wonderfully sad, you want Amy (the main character) to succeed in life but know when reading that despite everything she's going to end up exactly as she does; fat and lonely, looking after her brother whom her mother loved more than her. Somehow avoids being depressing and remains a beautiful story. Worth a read!

One of rubens` best..., 31 Mar 2008
A classic example of a book that makes you take a long hard look at yourself - and those around you. The mistakes we make along the way - the little white lies we tell that always seem to have a way of coming out, and have a pronounced effect on others. The things we do to spite others - and end up hurting mainly ourselves. And mostly, the forgiveness that goes hand in hand with love.

A moving and wise remembrance of a life nearing its end., 01 Apr 2001
An observation that was constant in reviews of the most recent Iris Murdoch novel was that while perhaps not a 'great' novel, Dame Murdoch was unquestionably 'wise'. Without trying to understand why critics begrudged her claim to greatness, it must be said that Bernice Rubens displays a similar amount of insight into the human psyche, but here the similarities between the two writers end. Ms Rubens works on a much smaller scale (with the exception of 'Our Father') and without the complexity of philosophical dilemmas of Dame Murdoch, but she is no less 'wise'.

With deceptively simple prose and structure, Bernice Rubens has consistently probed the depths of human thought and feeling. Her new novel, 'Milwaukee', is no exception as she takes her narrator, Anne Dawson, on a journey of flashbacks through her past as she moves progressively closer to her rapidly approaching, inevitable death. All the characters come vividly to life, and it is impossible for the reader to avoid emotional response to them. It is a story of guilt and redemption, vengeance and forgiveness. A mistake in her youth leads to a chain reaction of blunders for Anne, and she spends her final days unraveling the mysteries of her past. Past and present eventually begin to overlap as Anne desperately attempts completion and understanding in the time she has remaining. It is a rare example of modern fiction that is successfully written from the head but aims for the heart and a testament to the power of words.

Bernice Rubens may be the most under-appreciated author writing today, and 'Milwaukee', which finds her at the height of her power, would be a good place for readers to correct the neglect.

Not one of her best., 11 Jan 2008
This was not one of bernice rubens` best in my opinion. I found it rather drawn out and oppressive, and could have put it down at any point - and almost did.

Not my favourite, 29 May 2003
A bit more difficult than her other books it nevertheless shows a very interesting situation. Solid work!

Despairingly realistic, 11 Dec 2001
"The Elected Member" is the story of Norman, a mentally disturbed high-achiever in a close-knit Jewish family confined to a mental institution when his family feel they can no longer cope, and it is sensational in its achievements. It is written in such a way as to involve the reader to the highest possible degree, making him cry, laugh, and experience all the devestating emotions of the characters about which he is reading. The problems and situations it presents are for many easy to identify with, making it a book that is painful to read at the same time as being, for this very reason, impossible to put down. It is Rubens's style - pure storytelling - that makes the book so effective. Lack of too-involved description or her own opinions makes us focus on her subject instead, which is, of course, the most important thing, and the portrayal of her characters and their various reactions to Norman's illness as they face up to their own involvement with it is probably more believable than anything else I have ever read that it almost seems autobiographical.
This is a superb book, the author having gone almost too far into such a taboo issue as mental illness and the culpability of the family of the sick member. I felt guilt, I felt sadness, I felt despair...then I read it all over again.

Gripping but badly written., 14 Aug 2006
The story is a good one, but the book is very badly written. Most of the characters are unconvincing stereotypes with simplistic dialogues that amounts to little more than than sloganeering. The main characters are, however, atypical (as far as the story goes), but their dialogue is equally unconvincing.
The book makes for a quick, easy, evocative and gripping read, but as a historian, don't mistake this book for any kind of history. The books tries to be a history, a novel and a polemic, but fails on all counts.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was made into a supposedly controversial but equally mediocre film.
I'd like to give this book two and half stars. I can't bear to give it three, but it's slightly better than a two.

.....facts are for historians..., 06 Mar 2004
Whereas I have previously enjoyed Bernice Rubens' writing, her latest novel is a disappointment.
Once again there is a Jewish theme to her work - but her description of conflict in Israel over the years was unconvincing. Admittedly, she gives herself a let-out clause in the first chapter for her lack of research when the narrator suggests that "chronology...is very boring and lies in the dull province of historians and their obsession with facts."
Despite the stated intention to convey the "nub" of the story, the characters in this novel were left strangely undeveloped and it was difficult to identify with them. In particular her clue-dropping throughout the story about Will's sexuality was clumsy and inept. This was a great disappointment after "Yesterday in the Back Lane" and "I Sent a Letter to my Love" where one suspects that the author is treading more familiar ground.
Even her narrator's comment about terrorists becoming freedom-fighters was poorly developed.
In "The Sergeants' Tale" we get the feeling that Bernice Rubens is straying into territory where Graham Greene would have produced something memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one., 28 Apr 2008
This is rubens at her naughtiest - bad language, kinky sex, blackmail, even chat lines - all the works - and all in a home for the aged believe it or not ! This is the sort of home i want my kids to book me into, and i don`t mind going early !!
It`s all going on in here...
Well done rubes !!

Stunning, 03 Jun 2003
Who would have known all the things that can happen in a home for the elderly.... Bernice Rubens obviously does and she tells us with all her own peculiar wit! A great read!

"Who, if anybody, will I survive today?", 08 Jun 2002
As usual, Rubens gets under your skin and provokes a reaction, unflinchingly portraying a realism in her characters that will have you shocked, delighted, grinning knowingly - but always involved in the schemes and desires of her characters.

Hollyhocks is a classy rest-home, but rather than sleepy, medicated old dears, this home seethes with sharp instincts, and sharper tongues, making secrets hard to keep, and hope hard to kill. Extortion, blackmail, deviant sexual practices and incontinence:- If this is old age, count me in !

An excellent novel, 13 Jan 2008
Luke Wakefield is a failure. He has been a loser all his life. Even his failure is a failure. One day is queuing at the post office when the man in front of him simply falls dead. Luke decides to pocket the dead man's final epistle and leave the post office. Back at home he discovers that the letter was written by a Sebastian Firbank to his wife Marian Firbank in which he unmistakably states that he killed her. This event takes Luke on his mission to trace Marion's relatives, a long and patient investigation and a search which will in itself enrich his otherwise empty life.
In this entertaining and very well written novel we see a man bewitched by the death of a woman he has never met. His `crusade' to find her body is fuelled by the bleakness of his personal life and takes the form of a bizarre chase leading to an astonishing conclusion and unexpected happiness. Unusual and intriguing. Definitely worth reading.


Strikingly original, 11 Nov 2007
The originality of "Nine Lives" lies in the fact that it is not a mystery in the conventional sense. We know from the start who the killer is, as he relates his murders in a journal. Donald Dorrick's victims are all psychotherapists and they are all killed in the same manner, garrotted with a guitar string. Donald leaves no clues behind and, though the police investigation by the amiable, persistent and ever-baffled Inspector Wilkins, will appear perfunctory to the point of incredibility, to readers of crime fiction this is quite clearly intentional.
Interest is directed not to the crimes but to the characters: the character of the killer, Donald, and his wife, Verry. They have had a happy marriage, Verry cherishing in particular memories of holidays on the beach at Margate with their twin sons Mathew and Martin. Verry is the ideal wife for a serial killer: she asks no questions, and therefore need be told no important lies. For her, he is "my Donald", a loving husband and adequate provider.
The oddity, which is also the question the reader is encouraged to ask, is that, while, admitting cheerfully to the murders, he declares repeatedly that he is "innocent". When Verry visits him in prison Donald's first remark is, nearly always: "You do believe I'm innocent, don't you?"
The novel is not really about murders. The killings are necessary incidents. It's more about love in its many different forms: love that can corrupt and deform, love that asks no question even when it should, love that is both protective and self-protective. And it is all done with such a light touch that readers may not realise how truly serious the novel is till you have finished it, and then pause to reflect.
The book is beautifully narrated by Di Langford for ISIS Publishing.


Rather dull and predictable., 03 Aug 2002
I bought this novel after reading a number of good reviews for it in the press, and wonder if I read the same book as