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    The St. Zita Society
    The St. Zita Society
    The St. Zita Society
    Audiobook8 hours

    The St. Zita Society

    Written by Ruth Rendell

    Narrated by Carol Boyd

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELL’S FINAL NOVEL, DARK CORNERS

    This captivating novel about residents and servants on one block of a posh London street is a “sex comedy and a social satire, of the ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ variety, with a few murders mixed in for our added delight” (The Washington Post Book World).

    Life on Hexam Place appears orderly on the outside: drivers take their employers to and from work, dogs are walked, flowers are planted in gardens. But beneath this tranquil veneer, this quintessentially London world of servants and their masters is set to combust. Henry, the handsome valet to Lord Studley, is sleeping with both the Lord’s wife and his university-age daughter. Montserrat, the Still family’s lazy au pair, assists Mrs. Still in keeping secret her illicit affair with a television actor—in exchange for pocket cash. June, the haughty housekeeper to a princess of dubious origin, tries to enlist her fellow house-helpers into a “society” to address complaints about their employers. Meanwhile, Dex, the disturbed gardener to several families on the block, thinks a voice on his cell phone is giving him godlike instructions—commands that could imperil the lives of all those in Hexam Place.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateAug 14, 2012
    ISBN9781442349810
    Author

    Ruth Rendell

    Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) won three Edgar Awards, the highest accolade from Mystery Writers of America, as well as four Gold Daggers and a Diamond Dagger for outstanding contribution to the genre from England’s prestigious Crime Writ­ers’ Association. Her remarkable career spanned a half century, with more than sixty books published. A member of the House of Lords, she was one of the great literary figures of our time.

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    Reviews for The St. Zita Society

    3.5/5

    125 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Fantastic audiobook - great narrator who did al the different voices beautifully
    • 3/5
      A lot of characters, slow start. Mobs of details of houses and occupants.
      But then you start to anticipate what is going to happen, and are kept waiting.
      An intriguing and interesting read.
    • 3/5
      First Ruth Rendell book. This was such great fun. Dark humor. Just the right amount of movement forward, random events, eddies. I had tried another Rendell novel and couldn't get past the first chapters. In the mood I was in when I finished. A smile on my face--this is a 3.5. Listened on Audible.
    • 3/5
      Not to much mystery, lots of unsympathetic characters. Not one of Rendell's best.
    • 5/5
      This is a book about neighbourhood. It is set in a few houses in a small and exclusive area and focuses on their inhabitants, the owners, the servants and those in between. One of the pleasures in reading a book with no central character is that the writer can take you on a walk through the minds of others. Rendell takes a great deal of care crafting her characters and in making them all sympathetic. The plot deals with the things we seem to be in control of verses the things we are not. It is something of a masterpiece and repays rereading.
    • 3/5
      I was very disappointed. This book got good reviews and if read as a satire of class in Great Britain, possibly.
    • 2/5
      I didn't dislike the book, but you'd be far better to read other Ruth Rendell books - have read several Inspector Wexford books (and have more in my library). The ones I've read are gripping and good mysteries with complex plots.
      This is more of an Upstairs Downstairs characters with a bit of crime and psycho thrown in.
      Kept enough interest to finish it, but if you have more books stacked up than you can possibly read, move this one further toward the bottom.
    • 3/5
      I’ve been an avid fan of Ruth Rendell’s work since the 1970s, and have enjoyed almost everything she’s written, so it saddens me to say that I didn’t think that her latest book is nowhere near her best. Her books are always a real treat, something to look forward to, and something to savour and enjoy. With the Saint Zita Society she has once again written about the world she knows and loves best: London and its seemingly endless cast of idiosyncratic and often downright odd characters.

      This story takes a while to get going, with the first quarter of the novel focusing on descriptions of the people of Hexam Place. I found this a bit tedious, compounded by Rendell’s trade mark extensive cast of characters and off-the-wall names. Eventually, there is a death, but because there had been relatively little earlier attention paid to this person, I felt that she dispatched them somewhat arbitrarily; any one of these people could have been the victim, as there’s no real plot drivers which focus in any particular direction. I also found the whole idea of a group of people forming a local society named after the patron saint of servants to be unbelievable. Credibility of characters’ motivation can sometimes be a problem with Rendell, and it’s very much on show here, and this is a shame.

      There’s plenty of wry humour, much of it targeted at the ridiculousness of contemporary society, and one of the few elements that does drive the story forward is the tensions and petty class struggles within this anachronistic group of domestic workers. Montserrat, the au pair from number 7, and June Caldwell and her ‘royal’ employer at number 6, are particularly well drawn and often funny.

      Overall, I was left with the feeling that Rendell had run out of energy with this book; it just seemed off-balance, lacking in focus and with the mystery elements not given her usual attention to detail. As I reached the end of the book, the story simply fizzled out, there was no real conclusion; for me then, this was vaguely pleasurable, but ultimately unsatisfying.

      © Koplowitz 2012
    • 3/5
      Ruth Rendell is, along with P.D. James, the jewel in the crown of British crime fiction after the first Golden Age. Her Inspector Wexford novels, stand-alones and deliciously creepy tales written as Barbara Vine have garnered fans and favorable critical attention for decades.In recent years, she has enlarged her range to include stand-alone novels taking place on various London streets. THE ST. ZITA SOCIETY takes place among the posh and would-be posh. Set on Hexam Place, it's an "Upstairs, Downstairs"-style novel in which those in service, and those roped into doing for others, gather at the local. June has been lady's maid for more than 60 years to Princess Susan, who came by the title from a long-abandoned Italian prince. June forms the St. Zita Society, which she says is named after the patron saint of domestic servants, as a way for the downstairs group to congregate, discuss issues and perhaps go to a show.Although most of the others don't mind congregating at the local, they're not that interested in any type of society or causing trouble. It's not that they're cowardly. It's that most of them are too wrapped up in themselves or the onus their employers place upon them.Take Henry, for example. Lord Studley's valet is sleeping with both Lord Studley's wife and his daughter. June has to walk the dog but her employer, the princess, is taken with June's nephew, Rad, who acts on a TV soap. Preston Still's wife also is taken with Rad. But it's the Stills' au pair, Montserrat, who has to let him in and out off the house across from where June and the princess live. At least Preston and Lucy Still's children are diligently cared for by Rabia, whose traditional Muslim father wants the young widow to get married again. But Rabia also lost her children and Thomas is such a lovely baby who adores her. Thea isn't in service but her landlords seem to think she works for them without pay.Then there's Dr. Jefferson. His driver, Jimmy, doesn't work too hard but he does put up with Dex the gardener. Dex killed someone once because a voice commanded him to get rid of that evil spirit. Most people don't have faces to Dex, but there is the voice of Peach, sometimes found by dialing random numbers on his mobile, to guide him.Rendell sets up these dominoes and, with one push, sets them all into inevitable motion. The rest of the novel is a delightfully devilish discourse on how some people get away with things, how some people only seem to get away with things and how some people are doomed.Along the way, Rendell is as great as ever with her wicked ability to skewer those who need it, add just the right touches of pathos and the occasional moment of genuine sweetness.If the set-up seems to take a bit, hang on. It's worth it when those dominoes begin to fall.
    • 3/5
      This review relates to the audio version.The story is set in Hexham Place, a little backwater in a fashionable (and expensive) part of London. Hexham Place has two distinct population groups – the employers (ie the rich people who own the houses) and the hired help; and June, assistant and companion to the self styled “Princess Susan”, founds the Saint Zita Society to look out for the interests of the servants.Beyond setting the scene and providing a vehicle for discussing events, the St Zita society itself doesn’t particularly figure in the story. In fact, now I think about it there isn’t all that much plot anyway. There is a rich cast of interesting and well portrayed characters, and the narration follows their lives over a period of several months. In true soap-opera fashion, their lives are much more eventful that the average – but this is hardly a psychological thriller.My daughter and I listened to this in the car over a period of a few days (we had a long drive to do), and we both enjoyed it. It’s not great literature, and I suppose I have to agree with other reviewers that it isn’t one of Rendell’s best, but it was certainly enjoyable and entertaining.
    • 5/5
      I have to confess that I spent the first few chapters of THE SAINT ZITA SOCIETY wishing that my Kindle version had a map that would help me sort out who lived where in Hexam Place. There's quite a rich parade of characters, most of whom live in the houses in Hexam Place.In this stand-alone novel, much of the story is taken up with the relationships and events that connect the residents of Hexam Place and the reader may be forgiven for wondering about what direction the book is taking. By the end however you will wonder why you didn't see it all coming.The first death does not occur until a third of a way through the novel, an accident resulting from "a kicking downstairs, the classic way of expelling a man from a house." But this death involves two of the characters in disposing of the body in the country, and a bond between that eventually must be broken, violently.I'm finding it incredibly difficult to tell you much about the novel without revealing too much of the plot. You'll have to take my word for it that I did enjoy the read, but that it was only as I looked back that I realised how intricately and cleverly drawn were the various threads that connected the story.Underlying the story is an exploration of the layering of modern society, its lack of moral fibre, its selfishness, its inequalities, and the consequences of its inability to deal adequately with those susceptible to exploitation. There's a sort of justice and retribution in the final death.
    • 2/5
      Oh Ruth Rendell, I don't know how to quit you. You've left behind the subtlety of your prime in favor of lazy stereotypes that often carry a slight whiff of racism, and your intricate and nuanced plots have given way to announcing the culprits from the outset and clumsy set-ups. You still set your books in the contemporary world, but your language choices would be more familiar to someone living five decades ago. Nevertheless, you've retained much of your writing style and a love of oddball characters that make your latest books feel like a karaoke version of the original. In The St. Zita Society, Rendell tells an upstairs downstairs story told primarily from the view below stairs. In a well-to-do London neighborhood, the help gathers together periodically at the pub on the corner to discuss the various issues to do with life on Hexam Place. Led by June, the geriatric companion to a self-styles princess, she struggles to perform her daily tasks. Then there's Monserrat, the au pair, whose main task is to sneak her employer's lover in and out of the house without the husband's knowledge. There's Dex, who is living on a disability allowance since his release from the mental institute and who now does gardening for some of the residents. So, there's a murder, or two, with a cover-up and a lot of lying. It's an entertaining enough read as long as being surprised by the plot twists is not important and every character behaving exactly as one would suspect given their backgrounds.
    • 2/5
      I’ve been a fan of Ruth Rendell (and Barbara Vine) for many years, and always look forward to another of her books. For the first time, I find myself disappointed. The book is much more a social satire than a mystery. It focuses on relationships among servants and their employers, residents of upscale Hexam Place in London. The title refers to the society formed by the servants, the name referring to the patron saint of domestic servants. The club meets at the neighbourhood pub to drink and vent about their employers, whom they sometimes both envy and despise, and their working conditions. There is a very large cast of 20+ characters. It takes some time to understand the relationships and connections among the characters. These relationships often breed contempt, misunderstandings, resentment, abuse, and even paranoia. The elite residents are usually oblivious to the feelings of their workers. The resident gay couple, for example, has come to expect one of their tenants to perform “’little jobs’ . . . staying in to open the door when a plumber was coming or the postman with a parcel, phoning Westminster City Council whenever a complaint was to be made, putting out their recycling, changing lightbulbs and mending fuses” – all without payment or even acknowledgment. When they decide to have a party to celebrate their civil union, it doesn’t occur to them to invite any servants, who are upset at “Damian and Roland’s snobbish and exclusive conduct.”In many ways this novel reads like a soap opera with a large number of people behaving badly. Both the servant classes and the upper classes come off badly; human foibles abound. The employers are mercenary, petulant, adulterous, and capable of homicide; the employees are opportunistic, disgruntled, adulterous, and also capable of murder. My feelings towards these characters kept changing; sometimes I felt sympathy for someone, only to have that emotion replaced by disgust. There are a number of problems with the book. First of all, there is not a great deal of suspense. The first violence doesn’t occur until the middle of the book, and then the disposal of the body is totally farcical. The lack of modern technology stands out. Hexam Place has inhabitants both young and old and seems to reflect contemporary London with its many cultures; there is even a Muslim nanny. However, sometimes I felt as if the events take place in a time warp: a mobile phone is the main possession of one of the characters and plays an important role in the plot, but otherwise no one else seems to have one. Texting doesn’t exist? People get their news only through newspapers? It’s as if televisions don’t exist except as a venue for soap operas. One character has a degree in computer studies and two young girls seem addicted to computer games, but no one uses the internet for news? Another difficulty is that characters seem to change for no reason. Dr. Simon Jefferson is described as “a real saint, kindness itself to everybody” and “a saint in human form” and a “kindly, genial man who was the favourite of mothers at Great Ormond Street Hospital and whom their children seemed to prefer over their own fathers,” yet at one point he inexplicably comes “to look quite different, to look in fact like another person . . . [a] judge, stern and uncompromising” who speaks in a “cold voice.” This same man just smiles “resignedly” when his driver moves into his home and basically takes over the household?! Another man is portrayed as a bumbling, ineffectual fool who accuses a woman of being a Lady Macbeth; later he plots to have someone killed?The weakest part is the ending. There is a very abrupt ending – a violent ending – and that is not surprising. What is problematic is that much is left unresolved. No arrests are made for any of the crimes. One man is deeply involved in a death and the police are directed in his direction, but nothing happens to him and there is no indication that the case is closed. There are just too many loose ends; too much is left unexplained. It is disconcerting to write a negative review of a Ruth Rendell mystery, but this book is not of the calibre I’ve come to expect from her.
    • 4/5
      It's a Rendell book so the unexpected and the off-the-wall are the norm. I love Ruth Rendell's writing. It's always a treat and it certainly is usually different than the mainstream. No one does weird and downright spooky people like Ruth Rendell and this book has about seven or eight of them. At first it's hard to keep all the characters straight but as I read, they became much clearer. This is a book about a bunch of servants that live in an upper class London neighbourhood. They band together to form a servant society called the Saint Zita Society. Saint Zita is a patron saint for those who serve. Sounds fairly innocuous doesn't it. Well really it's anything but. Remember this is a Ruth Rendell book. This group of rag-tag individuals do all sorts of weird and wonderful things all the way up to murder. It was wonderful to see all the various degrees of depravity for Rendell's characters in this book. And they all, with the exception of one individual, appear to be normal people on the outside. This lady is a wonderful author, and whether as Ruth Rendell or Barbara Vine, I will keep coming back to read her books.
    • 4/5
      Ruth Rendell can instill a feeling of dread onto every page better than anyone (with the possible exception of the late Patricia Highsmith). Her characters often are not what they initially seem, and their full intentions unfold slowly, extending the reader's anxiety as the story progresses. The St. Zita Society is a black comedy as well as a suspense thriller, and there are many darkly funny lines and situations. In addition, Ms. Rendell has created another enjoyable layer of meaning to the story by focusing on the upstairs/downstairs class system that continues to operate in English society.