Thanks to the introduction to the books of Jane Yardley by my friend Hilary I decided to read this book, mainly because of the intriguing nostagic title.
My Review
It is summer 1965 and ten-year-old Annie is whiling away the holiday in her Essex village with best friend Babette, trying to keep out of the way of her parents who run the village school. But as she practises for her grade 5 piano exam and escapes into the latest Beatles or Rolling Stone song, the local community is shocked by a spate of murders.
At first, Annie continues to visit her favourite adult, Mrs Clitheroe, who shares her synaesthesia, the tendency to see music, days of the week etc as colours, absorbed in conversation with her while Babette leafs through an old photo album. But then the murders come closer to home. Annie is a witness, but she has no intention of helping the police to find the culprit.
In tandem with the story of her childhood we meet Annie thirty years later, a musician and teacher with one failed marriage and another cooling. She is offered a chance to move to New York, a place that has always been significant to her, but she needs to work on improving the relationship with her American husband, Alan. But memories of her creative, chaotic first marriage to sculptor, Daniel are getting in the way.
This is a complex book about only children who live in a world of their own (I identify with this!) of the traumatic effect of discovering a murder scene and the way some people stay with you all of your life, even if you only knew them as a child. It is amusing, mystifying and reveals the world of a sixties village very well. It is a stimulating read which makes you think but it is also a great page turner.
Painting Ruby Tuesday is available at Amazon UK or at Amazon US
Lizanne lost in a good book 
Sounds good, Liz.
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