{"product_id":"astas-book","title":"Astas Book","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAsta''s Book\u003c\/i\u003e is a classic double-detective story by crime master Barbara Vine\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor a good, absorbing, well-told story, you could hardly better the unveiling of Asta''s secret''  \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is 1905. Asta and her husband Rasmus have come to East London from Denmark with their two little boys. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing a diary. These diaries, published over seventy years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal. For they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder and to the mystery of a missing child. It falls to Asta''s granddaughter Ann to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''A dazzling domestic thriller''  \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Obsessively readable''  \u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Engrossing . . . a mixture of biography, true crime and romance people with vivid minor players and red with herrings''  \u003ci\u003eIndependent on Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Absolutely enthralling ... the best yet from the Vine\/Rendell bureau. Essential \u003ci\u003ereading''  Literary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Simply put, Vine is one of the greatest writers ever''  Scott Turow\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAsta''s Book\u003c\/i\u003eis a modern crime masterpiece and will be enjoyed by readers of P.D. James, Ian Rankin and Scott Turow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBarbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has written fifteen novels using this pseudonym, including \u003ci\u003eA Fatal Inversion\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eKing Solomon''s Carpet\u003c\/i\u003e which both won the Crime Writers'' Association Gold Dagger Award. Her other books include: \u003ci\u003eA Dark Adapted Eye\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe House of Stairs; Gallowglass; Asta''s Book; No Night Is Too Long; In the Time of His Prosperity; The Brimstone Wedding; The Chimney Sweeper''s Boy; Grasshopper; The Blood Doctor; The Minotaur; The Birthday Present\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Child''s Child\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57448640315774,"sku":"NW9780141040455","price":15.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780141040455.jpg?v=1780610501","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/astas-book","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}