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Dark Angel, 1990
In a refreshing variant on her usual genre of melodramatic romance, Beauman proves that she can turn out a well-written and absorbing novel of more than respectable quality. This is still what critics like to call an unputdownable page-turner (and that's certainly true of Dark Angel), but turning these pages brings interesting rewards: the slow unravelling of an intriguing mystery and a full-length portrait of the disturbing Dark Angel herself, Constance Shawcross.
The protagonist of this three-generation saga, Victoria Cavendish, is a conventional romantic heroine, estranged from her lover and making her way in the modern world as a successful interior decorator. But the intense focus of the novel rests on the older woman, Constance, who became the child Victoria's guardian after the death of her parents during World War II. It is Victoria who investigates the unresolved mysteries surrounding Constance and her doings, but it is Constance who reveals herself in a series of increasingly shocking journal entries that finally lay bare the truth of her own childhood and damaged psyche.
The root from which all stems is a "comet-party" organized in 1910 at the Cavendish's English country estate, Winterscombe, to view the passage of Halley's Comet after a convivial supper. As family and friends assemble, the reader is introduced to the many characters whose memories of the event will provide Victoria with clues so many years later. Prominent among the house-guests is the despicable Edward Shawcross, the child Constance's father, who is the lover of Gwen Cavendish, Victoria's amiable grandmother. What makes the occasion forever unforgettable to all present is a horrible occurrence late that night, not discovered until early the following morning: Edward Shawcross is found out in the grounds, mangled by an illegal man-trap set in the shrubbery. After several days of fevered agony, he dies of his wounds and his orphan daughter Constance, a sullen and unattractive child, is charitably taken in by the Cavendish family and raised along with Gwen's adolescent sons.
Constance grows up to be a petite and striking dark beauty of irresistible charm and presence, precocious, wilful, and manipulative. She will hang many a scalp on her belt before she is done, and Victoria Cavendish will be one of her last duped victims.
Edward's death at Winterscombe seems on the surface to be an inexplicable accident, yet someone obviously set the trap. Who? For what exact purpose? Was Edward actually the intended prey or did he simply blunder onto the spot by chance? More than one member of the Cavendish family had reasons to loathe and resent him. Could Edward have been lured to his cruel come-uppance? Is this actually a savage murder? Yet the method is peculiar, not guaranteed to succeed. After all, Edward might not have been so seriously injured and could have remained able to testify against the culprit. So, murder or accident? That is the mystery Victoria finds she must unexpectedly unveil three generations into the future during the quest to resolve her own unhappy dilemma and give her stalled life new direction.
Dark Angel is a well-structured novel with many fascinating stories and period set-pieces. The reader will feel emotionally involved in many unusual lives. But, oddly, not in Victoria's. Although she's likeable, and her problems and pangs are real enough, and it's nice when everything finally turns out well for her, Victoria is primarily a technical contrivance to provide a credible overall narrative viewpoint.
© Wordreign, July 1999
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