Trenchard cannot know what havoc will be wrought on his life and all he holds dear. When a stranger approaches him, he is puzzled but not overly worried. One mild autumn day in 1882, William Trenchard sits smoking his pipe in his family home. It's bit of an involved plot, but I'll try to explain it. I just finished reading Painting the Darkness by Robert Goddard. It's not quite as tight and addictive as some of his other books it meanders quite a bit and lacks some of the physical danger and relentless pacing, but it is good and rewards the effort. I can’t give anything more away, but if you like sordid family dramas, check this out. Only Constance got any sympathy from me, but I had a feeling she was going to suffer in the end, too. His family didn’t help me though what a bunch of spiteful, entitled assholes. I knew better than to become emotionally connected to him or his cause. Then there’s James Norton and his bid to get back into his family’s good graces and claim his inheritance. Mostly, he’s a pawn and is used and abused pretty much the whole time. Ostensibly it’s for one reason, but Goddard is never so straightforward and I was just waiting for the truth. If you do like all those things along with a dash of the historical, I’m sure you’ll become an addict like me once you read one.Īs usual, one of the main characters is drawn into the plot indirectly and it is quite a while before we know precisely why. If you don’t like long, involved and convoluted plots with lots of characters (many not what they seem), shenanigans and the unexpected, don’t read him. Corgi Books, ISBN: 0552132829 (May, 1990), 602 p., £4.99 / £7.Once you read one Goddard, you start to hunger for more. But Trenchard must plumb the depths of his own despair before the dark secrets of the Davenall family can finally, shockingly, be revealed. Sir Hugo, James's younger brother, and his mother, Lady Catherine, refuse to recognise Norton and force Trenchard - who fears the loss of his wife's affections - into an uneasy alliance against him. The stranger announces himself as James Norton, but claims he is in reality Sir James Davenall, the man to whom Trenchard's wife Constance had been engaged, and who had committed suicide eleven years ago. He cannot know the destruction this man will wreak on all he holds most dear. When the creak of the garden gate heralds the arrival of an unexpected stranger, he is puzzled but not alarmed. On a mild autumn afternoon in 1882, William Trenchard sits smoking his pipe in the garden of his comfortable family home. Robert Goddard: Painting the Darkness (UK 1990)