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Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard — book cover
Fiction, Peoples & Cultures - Fiction

Long Time Coming

by Robert Goddard
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Overview

Stephen Swan is amazed when he hears that the uncle he thought had been killed in the Blitz is actually alive. For nearly four decades, Eldritch Swan has been locked away in an Irish prison and now, at last, has been released. Shocked and suspicious, Stephen listens to the old man’s story and is caught up in a tale that begins at the dawn of World War II, when Eldritch worked for an Antwerp diamond dealer with a trove of Picassos—highly valuable paintings that later disappeared. Stephen, who finds his uncle by turns devious, charming, and brazen, then meets Rachel Banner, a beautiful American who may have inherited the Picassos—and is determined to see justice done for her family. But in this tale of revenge and redemption, justice is the ultimate illusion. Eldritch, Stephen, and the woman Stephen has fallen in love with soon find themselves fighting for their lives—against sinister forces still guarding a secret that must never be revealed.

Synopsis

Stephen Swan is amazed when he hears that the uncle he thought had been killed in the Blitz is actually alive. For nearly four decades, Eldritch Swan has been locked away in an Irish prison and now, at last, has been released. Shocked and suspicious, Stephen listens to the old man’s story and is caught up in a tale that begins at the dawn of World War II, when Eldritch worked for an Antwerp diamond dealer with a trove of Picassos—highly valuable paintings that later disappeared. Stephen, who finds his uncle by turns devious, charming, and brazen, then meets Rachel Banner, a beautiful American who may have inherited the Picassos—and is determined to see justice done for her family. But in this tale of revenge and redemption, justice is the ultimate illusion. Eldritch, Stephen, and the woman Stephen has fallen in love with soon find themselves fighting for their lives—against sinister forces still guarding a secret that must never be revealed.

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio

Robert Goddard is a consummate storyteller who constructs a narrative with the sleight-of-hand skills of a pickpocket. That special talent for manipulation is itself the theme of Long Time Coming, a titillating portrait of a charming con man who is outmaneuvered in one historical period and gets his revenge, nearly four decades later, by working that old black magic on his own nephew…In the end, it's a pleasure to have been strung along by such a master of the art.

About the Author, Robert Goddard

Robert Goddard's first novel, Past Caring, was an instant bestseller. His first Harry Barnett novel, Into the Blue, was winner of the first WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award.  He lives in Truro, Cornwall.  Delta will publish the next Goddard novel, Found Wanting, in 2011.

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Editorials

Marilyn Stasio

Robert Goddard is a consummate storyteller who constructs a narrative with the sleight-of-hand skills of a pickpocket. That special talent for manipulation is itself the theme of Long Time Coming, a titillating portrait of a charming con man who is outmaneuvered in one historical period and gets his revenge, nearly four decades later, by working that old black magic on his own nephew…In the end, it's a pleasure to have been strung along by such a master of the art.
—The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

In this irresistible thriller full of deceit, duplicity, and vengeance, British author Goddard (Name to a Face) shifts effortlessly between 1976, when 68-year-old Eldritch Swan, thought killed in the Blitz, resurfaces from 36 years in an Irish prison, and 1940, when Eldritch, a cocksure secretary for an unscrupulous Antwerp diamond merchant, Isaac Meridor, prepares to leave for America. The older Eldritch, who appears as weird as his given name implies, assures his nephew, Stephen, he’d been framed in Dublin for unspecified “offenses against the state,” though he admits to helping steal Meridor’s Picasso collection. Eldritch needs Stephen’s help to prove the collection rightfully belongs to Meridor’s wife, daughter, and granddaughter, Rachel Banner. Bit by tantalizing bit the convoluted tale of Eldritch’s unknowing involvement in high wartime crimes and misdemeanors during Britain’s “finest hour” emerges, deftly counterpointed by Stephen’s growing attachment to Rachel. (Mar.)

Kirkus Reviews

Goddard's latest period suspenser (Sight Unseen, 2007, etc.) combines World War II, the Irish Troubles and a disreputable uncle. Returning to England after resigning from both his position with an oil company and his American fiancee, Stephen Swan learns that he won't be the only newcomer to his mother's guest house in Paignton. Eldritch Swan, just released from an Irish prison after serving 36 years, has asked to stay with his late brother's family, whom he's never met, until he can get his feet beneath him. Uncle and nephew fail to bond. Apart from assuring Stephen that his prison term wasn't for a violent crime and hinting that he was an innocent who was framed, Eldritch refuses to reveal why he's been jailed since 1940; if he ever told a soul, he adds, he'd be sent back. His plan for getting on his feet doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Approached by a lawyer whose shadowy client is willing to pay £50,000 for proof that American tycoon Jay Brownlow's collection of Picassos was stolen from Antwerp diamond merchant Isaac Meridor as he fled the approaching Nazis, Eldritch indicates that he's the perfect man for the job-because he helped steal them. Goddard tacks back and forth between 1976 and 1940, dexterously raising new and deeper questions, then unfolding just enough of Eldritch's colorful history to answer them, or at least to encourage both his nephew and Meridor's granddaughter Rachel Banner to ever-greater complicity in his schemes. The suspect Eldritch fingers is unctuous, untouchable Miles Linley, now Sir Miles, for whom Eldritch fagged at school and for whom he ran an increasingly dodgy series of subdiplomatic errands as Hitler threatened Ireland and Churchill waitedanxiously to see whether Eamon de Valera would support England, remain neutral or work for a German victory. More scattershot and less inevitable-seeming than Goddard's best work, but also sharper-edged than usual. Eldritch's checkered career marks a welcome change from the author's customary, sometimes oppressive, suavity.

Book Details

Published
March 1, 2010
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Pages
432
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780385343619

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