At only page 49 I already knew this would be one of the best books I’ve ever read. Her characterization of Albion Singer is so deep, so profound, one feels as if one IS Albion; the reader shares his skin, inhabits his mind with him. Wow…
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Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dark Places is the story of Albion Gridley Singer, the father of Lillian, the eccentric woman in Grenville's Lillian's Story, her 1985 debut novel*. If you have read that novel (or seen the movie starring Toni Colette), you might wonder why one would want to read, much less write about such a man.

The book begins when Albion is a boy being shaped by his own family and the society and culture of the time. Albion is an insecure boy who seems clumsy in navigating the world around him. Within him is an empty, gnawing place that cannot be filled. He craves the love and approval of his father, but is unsatisfied. As he grows older he finds ways to cover his failings and we watch as he develops a deep resentment against women. When his father dies, Albion takes over the successful stationary business, marries, and becomes "a family man" but, despite appearances, we never forget the gaping emptiness in Albion and how it manifests itself with controlled and sadistic cruelty or outright abuse as the story races towards its denouement.

Kate Grenville has wonderfully recreated a Victorian world that moves and changes into the 20th century. And with it she creates the social mores and atmosphere, the privileges and powers, and the regimented gender roles that will help shape the dark soul of of this man, so richly imagined by Grenville. The evolution of Albion Gridley Singer is as mesmerizing as it is disturbing.

*despite the fact that chronologically, Lillian's Story is a sequel to this book, it was written years prior and, imo, should be read first.

First posted elsewhere on LT, 3/2010 ( )

At only page 49 I already knew this would be one of the best books I’ve ever read. Her characterization of Albion Singer is so deep, so profound, one feels as if one IS Albion; the reader shares his skin, inhabits his mind with him. Wow… ( )

This is a wonderfully written book which weaves family, history, social structure and madness. The central character however is so totally unlikeable, so completely deluded and unaware, that ultimately it impacted my enjoyment of the book. ( )

Dark psychological study of a Victorian man. ( )