Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBEwas an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth17 February 1930
people quite sort
It makes me actually quite angry to think about people writing about torture with a sort of relish. Horrible.
life
It's absolutely essential to my life. I don't know what I would do if I didn't write.
episodes history patients treatment
The treatment of patients with contaminated blood has been described as one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the NHS.
good kept lose nicer none others people tried turning various wrote
I started by writing short stories, but they weren't very good; I tried them on various magazines, and none of them was published. People were nicer then about turning you down, and so I didn't lose heart - I kept on writing and wrote a lot of books, one or two of which I finished, and others I didn't.
people perhaps
People tell me the most extraordinary things. I've noticed it for years. Perhaps they know I won't be shocked. Or judgmental.
people
People are still being put into geriatric wards when they don't need it. They need treatment, not just being put into bed and fed.
afraid ask book food husband idiotic people putting replied written
People do sometimes ask me some really idiotic questions: 'Is your husband afraid of you putting arsenic in his food?' I replied that I have never written a book about poison, ever.
apply
The old detective story that's got a really complicated motive doesn't apply to mine.
life people
The things I write about are completely removed from my own life, but people want to know the characters better.
awful nearly
I used to get an awful lot of letters, and they have almost all gone. I used to answer nearly all of them.
happen longer men nobody older ruth wants women
Some women say as they get older they're no longer noticed: they disappear. Men, for instance, don't see them. Nobody wants them. That doesn't happen to me because of who I am. Not because I'm any more scintillating company, but because I'm Ruth Rendell.
change common financial lose women worlds
Some women lose their husbands, and their worlds change because their financial circumstances change. All I have in common with them is a grief.
becoming love people specialist strikes terror
Reading is becoming a kind of specialist activity, and that strikes terror into the heart of people who love reading.
I've never met a murderer as far as I know. I would hate to.