'The man from the train was there, as she had supposed he would be. He was leaning over the bar questioning the barman about the town, the district. It seemed to Camilla puzzling that his sentimental journey should have ended in a place to which he was so much a stranger.'While waiting on the platform for her train, Camilla witnesses a tragic event. Upset, she finds distraction in the company of a young man with movie star good looks named, Richard.
Arriving at her destination she is met by her childhood friend, Liz, and together they set off for the flint cottage belonging to their once governess, Frances. Almost immediately there is friction between the young women as Liz is now married with a baby and things will never be carefree between the friends again.
While Liz is busy fretting over every cry the baby makes, Camilla finds her thoughts drifting towards Richard and soon has the perfect excuse to visit the hotel where he is staying. Frances is a painter and has an admirer of her work in the rotund bachelor, Morland Beddoes. Being non-judgmental, a keen observer and great listener he has many visitors to his flat to drink his brandy and unload tales of woe. He writes to Frances that he must finally meet the woman who painted the portrait which hangs in his room and gives him hours of enjoyment. Mr Beddoes has been so kind to Frances but the spinster is apprehensive to share her safe haven and sends Camilla to meet him at the train station.
Place these characters in a cottage together and add a handsome insane man who is staying nearby and Taylor's writing has an outlet to soar. This novel is described as her darkest and I can well see why. Quite often there is an element of wanting to reach out and stop someone the way you do when a child is about to cross a road and a car suddenly comes around the corner. There was one passage which showed a glimpse of the author's humour though when she names a wretched housekeeper with an unalterable time-table, Mrs Taylor. Nearing the conclusion I found myself trying to slow down the pace but it was both riveting and terrifying. High drama on a big screen couldn't have had me holding my breath any better.
It had been my intention to read Taylor's entire oeuvre before ordering a copy of Nicola Beauman's, The Other Elizabeth Taylor, but this novel left me anxious to know more about the woman behind the pen and now! Her descriptions of loneliness, wanting to break free from the restrictions placed on women by society, the power of men over women were obviously written by a woman who felt a great deal and who possessed exceptional insight. I now find myself faced with the horrible knowledge that Taylor's collection is finite and each unread story I pull from my shelf from now on will be both something to look forward to and something to dread.