Rendell & Domestic Violence

In “Simisola” Ruth Rendell dealt with the issues of illegal immigration and unemployment. In “Road Rage” it was the environment.

In “Harm Done” (1999) the recurrent theme is domestic violence. Quite early in the novel various positions are introduced during a discussion in Wexford´s own home.

Sylvia, Reg Wexford´s very conscientious daughter, works as a voluntary for “The Hide Helpline”, offering advice to women who are victims of violence in their homes. As usual, Sylvia goes out of her way to help and support strangers, but she is not quite as patient or tolerant when it comes to communicating with her own family.

Wexford assures her that the police are taking the problem very seriously through their domestic violence programme and adds, “We´re even putting in place a scheme to encourage friends and neighbours to report evidence of domestic violence.”

And this is when Dora Wexford chips in: “It sounds like the Stasi or the KGB to me... The nanny state gone mad.”

Of course the wole point is to let the reader meet different perspectives, but it is not the first time that Rendell lets Dora Wexford express very conservative attitudes and a certain scepticism of young women´s struggle for equality and independence.

For once Wexford listens to Sylvia and learns from her, however, and her advice turns out to be very useful indeed when he is involved in a case where domestic violence seems to play a role.

As a teacher of literature I know how important it is for a reader not to mix up the author and the narrator – or the author and any of the characters. So one cannot just conclude that Ruth Rendell agrees with Sylvia, with Reg or with Dora Wexford. On the other hand it is clear from several novels Rendell has written, dealing with a broad range of social issues, that this writer is concerned about (female) victims and to some extent also criminals who have suffered from social injustice, abuse etc. And always without compromising: the crime plot is first rate and keeps you engrossed until the final chapter.

No more about Ruth Rendell right now, but some years ago I held a talk about clergymen in British crime. Would you be interested in a series called “Is there a vicar around”?

Rendell in a Rage

Last week I took a look at Ruth Rendell´s novel “Simisola” about illegal immigrants and unemployment. Today´s crime novel is “Road Rage” from 1997.

Do nettles matter? Or butterflies? Well, certainly it must be more important to have a bypass around your town so people can get to work on time instead of sitting in a queue in the centre.

On the very first page Chief Inspector Reg Wexford says goodbuy to Framhurst Great Wood, deploring the fact that nature must surrender to asphalt:

“For six months the trees would remain and the uninterrupted view over the hill, the otters in the Brede and the rare Map butterfly in Framhurst Deeps. But he didn´t think he could bear to see it any more. ...

When I retire, he had told his wife, I want to live in London so that I can´t see the countryside destroyed.”

Dora Wexford believes in taking up the battle, so she joins KABAL, Kingsmarkham Against the Bypass and Landfill. Soon environmental groups join the protest, and next come the tree people, worshippers of nature who seem to mix ideas from New Age and paganism:

“The tree people drove steel bolts into tree trunks at a height calculated to buckle a chain-saw blade when felling began. They they began building themselves dwellings in the tops of beeches and oaks, tree-houses of planks and tarpaulin and approached by ladders which could be pulled up once the occupant was installed.”

Dora worries that some of tree fellers may be hurt, and Reg Wexford fears a civil war is going to break out. He tries to be pragmatic or ´eat my cake and have it´ as he says, but of course the protests escalate, and people are hurt.

Just like in “Simisola”, Rendell combines her social issue with an excellent crime plot in a way that seems natural and effortless. She introduces the various groups and their points of view, and by and by she demonstrates how difficult it is to look through people and decide who are idealists and who protests for completely different reasons.

Next week: “Harm Done” (1998)

Ruth Rendell, Simisola (1994)

[This post is not a review, but a comment on Rendell´s engagement in a social issue]

In this novel, unemployment and the social deroute which may follow it form an interesting backdrop, or social commentary, if you like. Besides, the narrator sets out to expose the lifestyle of the privileged few of Kingsmarkham right from the first page:

“There were four people besides himself in the waiting room and none of them looked ill. The olive-skinned blonde in the designer tracksuit bloomed with health, her body all muscles her hands all golden tendons, apart from the geranium nails and the nicotine stains on the right forefinger. She had changed her seat when a child of two arrived with its mother and homed on the chair next to hers.”

“To Wexford´s surprise the smoker [the olive-skinned blonde] turned to him and said, without preamble, ´I called the doctor, but he refused to come. Isn´t that amazing? I was forced to come here myself.´”

Simisola is a crime novel, a brilliant one of its kind, but the themes of unemployment and  immigration, illegal as well as legal, are just as important. In Chief Inspector Wexford´s youth, coloured people were a rare sight in Kingsmarkham, and when the story begins, they are still a very small minority indeed. One of the newcomers is Wexford´s own GP, Dr Raymond Akande. Wexford likes his new doctor, and perhaps he secretly congratulates himself that he is so open and forthcoming, and though he explains to Mike Burden that ´we are all prejudiced´, he certainly feels less prejudiced than most of his colleagues. (I know that occasionally some modern readers have been annoyed by Wexford´s old-fashioned attitudes, but this novel made me suspect that though the writer likes him, she is also able to look through him and expose some of his flaws for what they are).

Dr Akande´s daughter, Melanie, disappears, and during the long search for her, the attitudes and prejudices of Kingsmarkham´s police force are tested. And of course we also meet some of the less fortunate immigrants; young women who work as illegal nannies and cleaners for the very rich, and before the story ends, we realize that some of them live under conditions which are not far from those of their slave ancestors. So though I enjoyed all the Wexford stories before Simisola, this one is the first that made such a strong impression on me that I have never forgotten the victim (and have to reread it every few years – always getting a lump in my throat).

No more revelations as they may spoil the plot for you if you have not read this five-star crime novel yet, but it has probably left many readers wondering that affluent people need to employ cheap, illegal immigrants at all. But then they would never have become so rich if they threw away their money, would they?

Next week: Ruth Rendell, Road Rage (1997)