The Minotaur: A Novel

by Barbara Vine

Dedication: "To Jill Pitkeathley with love"

First paragraph: "One of the women buying amber was so much like Mrs. Cosway that it gave me a shock to see her. She seemed shorter, but people shrink with age. Otherwise the likeness, from her curly white hair to her spindly legs and fine ankles, was almost uncanny. She was holding up a string of pale yellow beads, looking at them and smiling with that excitement you only see on the faces of women who love shopping and pretty things."

Review: This story starts out with a small clip from the present and then quickly goes back 35 years to when a young Kerstin is employed by the Cosway family to oversee the middle-aged "mad" John Cosway. While living with the Cosway's she learns that this family is nothing like a normal family. Constant bickering between the mother and her four grown daughters escalates and Kerstin gets to be a witness of things she wishes she'd never heard or seen.

While there were aspects of the book that I enjoyed, for the most part I was bored. I considered ceasing my reading of this book but I was interested in what exactly the end would hold. It definitely wasn't what I expected but it still wasn't very exciting. I won't ever suggest this book to anyone, but it wasn't a complete waste of time so I was at least able to finish it.