Try free for 30 days

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
A Dark-Adapted Eye cover art

A Dark-Adapted Eye

By: Barbara Vine
Narrated by: Harriet Walter
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

Like most families, they had their secrets...

...and they hid them under a genteelly respectable veneer. No onlooker would guess that prim Vera Hillyard and her beautiful, adored younger sister, Eden, were locked in a dark and bitter combat over one of those secrets. England in the '50s was not kind to women who erred, so they had to use every means necessary to keep the truth hidden behind closed doors - even murder.

©1986 Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about A Dark-Adapted Eye

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stunningly good, absolutely engrossing

i have recently discovered Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell. i've always stuck with very contemporary crime, having little interest in middle class Britain of decades past. But having run out of good new releases i sampled some Vine from the Plus catalogue -- and WOW! i am blown away by the quality of writing. Honestly, i wonder why Margaret Drabble and others of this generation are classed as literary whereas BV is in the lesser psychological crime genre. The characterisation, psychological depth and story telling is outstanding.

This one is utterly compelling. i couldn't stop listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

intriguing

I loved listening to this novel. It seems to me to be unique. The narration suited the style of the first person narrative, which was intimate and personal.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enthralling

With no prior knowledge of Barbara Vine, this book was a revelation to me. It was enthralling, gripping and absorbing to the very end. The plot and characters were crafted to perfection. The narrator Harriet Walter has the most exquisite voice and depicted the story brilliantly.
Highly recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gently building sense of domestic strife and claustrophobic family

Brilliantly narrated story of a typical middle class family in England from the 1930’s. Social norms and class snobberies are gently revealed through one woman’s version of her paternal aunts’ lives, and the tragedy that eventually overtook them. There’s a slow build of love and affection turning into intense feelings which destroy those close to them.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Spellbound to the end

I loved this book. The characters and behaviour were fascinating set in a time when pretence of social position was vitally important to many people. It left me wondering who indeed was the real mother of the child. I am definitely going to read more by Barbara Vine. Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Very slow but I stuck with it

A well-written book that for this reader meanders far too slowly.
I was tempted to leave it a few chapters in, due to boredom, however what kept me listening was:
A) I wanted to know who was murdered, and this is cleverly not revealed until close to the end of the book, and
B) Every now and then something happened in the story that was interesting and kept me invested. Just.
I don't regret reading the book, however I would only recommend it to those who don't mind a lot of talk and not all that much happening for pages and pages.
The writing itself felt believable and well-written, the characters interesting, the narration excellent. Another tick on the plus side is that I definitely felt immersed in the time period of the book, the early 20th century.
Overall 3 stars, and now I need to read something a bit more fast-paced and gripping.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Good Read

This was a good read. It was entangled with various family and extended family members. I enjoyed the apparent morals of the day, the way people spoke to each other and the pretence of elegance. In the end the main players were extra-ordinary and certainly not as they projected themselves to the 'world'. It proves the point that no one of us knows "what goes on behind the closed doors" of our neighbours, or even our families.
I really enjoyed listening to this book. Thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Pleasant

This was an easy an listen to story. plenty going on to keep you interested with a good plots nice easy narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.