Painting the Darkness
A Novel
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4.2 • 29 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
From the author of the James Maxted series, "a plot worthy of Wilkie Collins" unfolds as an Englishman struggles to maintain his sanity and his marriage (Kirkus Reviews).
Robert Goddard's international bestselling third novel is a masterful exercise in suspense set in Victorian-era England. On a mild autumn afternoon in 1882, thirty-four-year-old husband and father William Trenchard sits quietly at home when the creak of the garden gate announces the arrival of a mysterious visitor.
The stranger claims he is Sir James Davenall, the former fiancé of Trenchard's wife, Constance. He was thought to have committed suicide eleven years ago. Although Constance remembers him, Davenall's family refuses to recognize him as one of their own.
Forced into an uneasy alliance with the stranger, Trenchard struggles to hold on to his wife and his sanity until the dark secrets of the Davenall family can finally be brought to light.
"[Painting the Darkness] has all the ingredients of a first-class melodrama . . . engaging and satisfying." —The Times (London)
"It explodes into action so that the reader is hooked by the time he reaches the third page. . . . A superb storyteller." —Sunday Independent (Ireland)
"This exciting story, with its careful complexity and completeness—no loose ends—is a joy to read." —Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When a strange man appears in William Trenchard's garden in St. John's Wood, one evening in 1882, and claims to be the former fiance of his wife Constance, Trenchard's whole life is overwhelmed. James Davenall had been missing, declared a suicide, for 11 years--and his younger brother Hugo had inherited the Davenall baronetcy. Yet, if James ``Norton,'' as he calls himself, is not the missing man, who is he? And why does his mother Catherine call Norton an imposter while Constance recognizes him as her lost love? A sensational trial that threatens to eclipse the famous Tichborne Case looms as Trenchard (who's fighting to hold on to his wife and his mental equilibrium) and Richard Davenall--a cousin, who may be Hugo's father--certain that Norton is a phony, carry out their own investigations. The outcome of the trial is tragic and explosive, and the surprises and mystery continue as Richard changes his mind about James, and as the tight and intricate plot moves back and forth in time. A large cast of characters plays a part in the mystery, as becomes clear in the shocking denouement. Goddard ( In Pale Battalions ) goes from strength to strength in terms of invention, and this exciting story, with its careful complexity and completeness--no loose ends--is a joy to read. Literary Guild alternate.
