Some reviews stated that 'Painting the Darkness' is not one of Goddard's best works, but I beg to differ. As the quest to find the real truth ensues, not only lives and fates are at stake, but also people's own sanity, as the puzzle pieces are slowly coming together. Secrets, that some people will do anything to keep them buried, even kill. A hearing and a trial to establish Norton's identity commences, but this is only the beginning- because Norton's arrival and claim will open up a can of worms, reopen old wounds, and will uncover dark, twisted secrets regrading events that go back at least forty years- events that stil have dire repercussions. Constance husband, William, sure himself that Norton is nothing more than an impostor, finds himself in an uneasy alliance with the Davenall family against Norton. His brother and mother refuse to recognize him, but his former fiance, Constance, now married and a mother, is at first unsure Norton says he is who he is, but she is later convinced he is indeed her lost love that came back for her. A mysterious stranger named James Norton arrives in London and claims to really be Sir James Davenall- a man everybody knew for certain to be dead for 11 years, seeing as he committed suicide. 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)

Painting the darkness robert goddard