Painting the Darkness

Book excerpt: 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