The Tree of Hands
The Tree of Hands is a 1984 suspense novel by the author Ruth Rendell.[1][2] It won the CWA Silver Dagger in 1984, and was short listed for the MWA Edgar Award upon publication in America. The book has been filmed twice. One adaptation featured Lauren Bacall as the protagonist's mother.
Plot summary
The Tree of Hands tells the story of an affluent young woman, Benet, who has a two-year-old son named James. She is estranged from James' father. They live in North London. Benet's mother comes to visit them. She and Benet's father now live in Spain. Benet's mother has a history of mental illness, possibly schizophrenia, and Benet is rather fearful of her mother and what she may be capable of doing.
Unfortunately James becomes extremely ill and dies, Benet is distraught and spends a lot of time in a state of prostrated grief. Her mother tries to look after her. A sub-plot involves a young man on a council estate who is deeply in love with a woman, Carol, who has several children from previous partners. It becomes apparent to the reader that she is unfaithful to this young man, and she is abusing her children, in particular her little boy, Jason. A turn in events leads to Benet's mother kidnapping little Jason and "replacing" the dead James. Benet, at first horrified at what her mother has done, begins to realise that little Jason has been abused (she finds cigarette burns on his body) and grows to love him. As he refers to himself as Jay, this is what she calls him. However, she realises that she cannot continue to see the Doctor from the hospital because he knows that James has died, and he has been very kind to her. He may start to question Jason's appearance. Also Benet's ex begins to realise what may have happened and puts pressure on her. She realises that she and Jay must leave the country in order to start their new life.
The sub plot (Carol and her friends and family) evolves into murder and betrayal, and a very clever twist involving the sale of a house in Hampstead.
The title "Tree of Hands" refers to a piece of artwork displayed on the wall in the ward that James was admitted to when first taken ill.
References
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- From Doon with Death
- A New Lease of Death
- Wolf to the Slaughter
- The Best Man to Die
- A Guilty Thing Surprised
- No More Dying Then
- Murder Being Once Done
- Some Lie and Some Die
- Shake Hands Forever
- A Sleeping Life
- Put on By Cunning
- The Speaker of Mandarin
- An Unkindness of Ravens
- The Veiled One
- Kissing the Gunner's Daughter
- Simisola
- Road Rage
- Harm Done
- The Babes in the Wood
- End in Tears
- Not in the Flesh
- The Monster in the Box
- The Vault
- No Man's Nightingale
- To Fear a Painted Devil
- Vanity Dies Hard
- The Secret House of Death
- One Across, Two Down
- The Face of Trespass
- A Demon in My View
- A Judgement in Stone
- Make Death Love Me
- The Lake of Darkness
- Master of the Moor
- The Killing Doll
- The Tree of Hands
- Live Flesh
- Heartstones
- Talking to Strange Men
- The Bridesmaid
- Going Wrong
- The Crocodile Bird
- The Keys to the Street
- A Sight for Sore Eyes
- Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
- The Rottweiler
- Thirteen Steps Down
- The Thief
- The Water's Lovely
- Portobello
- Tigerlily's Orchids
- The Saint Zita Society
- The Girl Next Door
- Dark Corners
- A Dark-Adapted Eye
- A Fatal Inversion
- The House of Stairs
- Gallowglass
- King Solomon's Carpet
- Asta's Book
- No Night is Too Long
- The Brimstone Wedding
- The Chimney Sweeper's Boy
- Grasshopper
- The Blood Doctor
- The Minotaur
- The Birthday Present
- The Child's Child
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