1) When and how did you become a published writer?
It will soon be 50 years since my first book was published. When I wrote it, well, I never really thought I’d write another. Even then, I knew it was hard to get a book published. It’s much harder now, much, much, harder. People ask me to read manuscripts and I hate doing it. People think that if you are a published author or quite well-known, then you can get someone else’s book published easily. I’ve only managed it once. I did meet a lady in the 1970s, called Caroline Graham. She was very nice and I said, “Well, I don’t know, you may have a chance. Keep trying.” Anyway she went on to be very successful and write Midsummer Murders, so there you go!
2) Which has been your most satisfying book to write?
I think The Keys to the Street and Portobello are my two favourites. Writing as Barbara Vine, probably King Solomon’s Carpet and The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy.
3) Tell us about writing under your pseudonym of Barbara Vine; how did that come about?
I did it originally as I had been thinking about a particular novel for years. Because I wanted to do it in the first person, it wouldn’t have worked as a Ruth Rendell. That book was A Dark Adapted Eye. Barbara is my middle name and Vine was the maiden name of one of my grandmothers. I thought, well, this may not work, but it was successful! Much more so than I expected, really. So I continued to write under Barbara Vine, but I thought I’d make each book completely different, plot-wise and thematically. I’m actually writing one now but it’s the first one in four years.
4) In 1996 you were awarded a CBE and then made a life-peer in 1997 [she is Baroness Rendell of Babergh]. How has your working life changed since then?
Being in the House of Lords hasn’t really affected my working life because I only ever write in the morning anyway, and I don’t have to be at the House until the afternoon. However, it has changed some aspects of my writing. Being in the House means you have the opportunity to learn about social issues that have never affected you before. Some more recent Wexfords have featured racism in the countryside, domestic violence and the environment.
5) Has your political life influenced your writing at all?
Of course. My principal campaign is about female genital mutilation, which is a theme in Not in the Flesh. I feel very strongly about it. However, when I first began to take an interest and talk and write about it people were horrified. Some still are.
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