The Tree of Hands: A Novel

A daughter's grief . . . A mother's madness . . . And a daring act of love that defied every law . . . 

“The best mystery writer anywhere in the English-speaking world.”—The Boston Globe

Mopsa, driven by a past scarred by madness and violence. Benet, stricken by the most grievous loss any woman can bear. Carol, trapped in a life of crushing drabness no lover can change. Three mothers joined by a single thread of terror, whirled into a spiral of kidnapping, murder, and a final, reckless affirmation of love.

Praise for The Tree of Hands

“A consummate artist who commands style, plot and character . . . A storyteller of a high order.”—Washington Post

“An excellent piece of suspense writing.”—San Diego Union

“Densely plotted, deeply emotional . . . The design of this book is brilliant. . . . It moves forward in a series of inexorable events that leave the reader panting from suspense and shaken from the sheer emotion of it all.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Here is Ruth Rendell at the top of her form—topping it, in fact, with a suspense chiller enchanted by a contemporary topicality that strikes to the heart.”—Judith Christ

Ruth Rendell is the author of Road Rage, The Keys to the Street, Bloodlines, Simisola, and The Crocodile Bird. She is the winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award. She is also the recipient of three Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and four Gold Daggers from Great Britain’s Crime Writers Association. In 1997, she was named a life peer in the House of Lords. Rendell also writes mysteries under the name of Barbara Vine, of which A Dark-Adapted Eye is the most famous. She lives in England.