Dark Places

Singer family #prequel

by Kate Grenville

'A writer of extraordinary talent' - "New York Times". Albion Gidley Singer appears an entirely proper husband, father, pillar of the community. But he is a hollow man, and within him are frightened and frighteningly dark places from which spring loathing and fear of female flesh. And the kind of violence that might call itself love. "Dark Places" tells the story of this man - two parts monster to one part buffoon - and of his growing obsession. As the horror mounts, we gain a terrifying glimpse of the male ego's dark side, and of the destruction it can wreak upon itself and others. Yet at the same time Kate Grenville keeps alive the reader's sympathy for this doomed figure. This is a novel that fearlessly confronts the aspects of ourselves from which we normally recoil. 'An eloquent, angry and humane novel...A very fine, albeit terrifying, writer' - "Irish Times". 'Remarkable' - "Guardian".

Genres: Fiction, Australia, Historical Fiction, Novels, Literary Fiction, Ebooks, Book Club

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Kate Grenville is one of Australia's best-known authors. She's published eight books of fiction and four books about the writing process. Her best-known works are the international best-seller The Secret River, The Idea of Perfection, The Lieutenant and Lilian's Story (details about all Kate Grenville's books are elsewhere on this site). Her novels have won many awards both in Australia and the UK, several have been made into major feature films, and all have been translated into European and Asian languages.

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful portrayal of an absolutely awful man.

Albion Gidley Singer is a monster of a man, who puts down everyone around him, and in particular the women in his life - his mother, his wife, his female work colleagues and of course his daughter, who in his eyes can do not good. His obsession to put down his daughter at every turn is so overwhelming that it leads to tragedy, which eventually leads to his own demise.

Kate Grenville has written a great portrayal of a hideous man, but one which you cannot put down, because it is so well written and compelling. Surely this must be the sign of a great book.

[Alison Newell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot think when I last read such a potent and vivid depiction of character as Kate Grenville's creation Albion Singer. His darkness and brutality, coupled with - indeed, caused by - his crippling sense of personal inadequacy, come something close to Emily Bronte's Heathcliff. In both cases the reader is left feeling deeply conflicted.
As a boy Albion is mollycoddled by his mother and intimidated by this father. She over-feeds him and he sneers and derides him, and he is bullied at school. As a coping-mechanism, Albion arms himself with facts - a veritable disciple of Dickens' Gradgrind with whom Albion also bears useful comparison - which satisfy if they do not impress his father and armour-plate Albion in those awkward social encounters in which a young man is supposed to be able entertain the young ladies with appropriate small-talk. His alphabetic recital of the world's rivers might not interest anyone, but at least they fill up the embarrassing silences.
In time, and especially on the death of his father, Albion creates an entirely new fact for himself - which is, in fact, himself - a new Albion. This Albion is confident and unassailable; nobody's fool - he knows what's what. Whatever this self-assured Albion thinks is indubitable fact; he's unshakably certain - but wrong - about everything. The wispy, insecure Albion is kept firmly entombed within this iron carapace but unfortunately, just as it allows no hint of weakness or emotion out, so it prevents any ray of sentiment from getting in. Neither does it allow for any self-doubt. The result is an inflated alter-ego without a shred of human feeling, completely devoid of empathy; a deluded brute who imposes his own heartless logic onto the world.
With inexorable, ice-cold rationality Albion takes a wife and fathers children. All are a terrible disappointment to him - their failing, of course, not his. He molests his staff and counts them lucky to have attracted his notice. So complete is his belief in his created persona that when he visits prostitutes he scarcely feels it necessary to leave any money – their services surely stem from genuine – and entirely understandable - attraction and admiration for him!
But he meets his match in his daughter, Lilian, who refuses to step into the mould he has cast for her, with truly shocking, dreadful consequences.
Albion would be ridiculous if he was not so coldly cruel, and yet, at his core, his pulpy, vulnerable ego is ours too and saves him – just – from being entirely monstrous. We despise and detest him but we pity him too. This is Kate Grenville’s great achievement.
Gravitating around Albion are his victims, satellites caught in the web of his towering self-made façade: Norah, his fluttering, intimidated wife; John, his frail, over-awed son; Rundle, long-time clerk of the company whose gentle autonomy is undermined by Albion’s officious interference. And Lilian; clever and beautifully buxom, loud and boisterous, perfectly at home in her own capacious skin: the person Albion should have been.
The language of Dark Places is hyper-real, cringingly vivid. Kate Grenville's bodies are tangible flesh and tacky blood; she is merciless about the folds and wobbles, the secretions and smells, the pinched restrictions and sweaty discomfort of Victorian fashion in a hot and fly-infested climate. Her description of the Company picnic is a tour de force.
But Albion Singer remains the central interest of this brave novel. As a study of the bully, the control-freak, the abuser, it is unparalleled.
I have been disappointed with some of Kate Grenville's later novels; nothing, in my opinion, has come close to The Idea of Perfection, but Dark Places has restored my confidence.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A convincingly done portrait of a monster, who tries to cover up his own self-loathing by abusing everyone in his power - mentally, physically and sexually. An unpleasant read but a compelling one.

3.5 stars.

[Text Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's been a lot of hype about a certain thriller called Dark Places, which has recently received the A-list movie treatment.

Well, this isn't it. But it did take the title before it was cool to do so. Kate Grenville ftw.

https://www.textpublishing.com.au/boo...

‘This is a dark tale, told with surprising humour.’
New Yorker

‘A compelling narrative, rendered with compassion.’
Newsday

The ambition behind it is met at almost every point by Grenville’s talent: unmistakable voice, solid intelligence, beautiful sharp language.’
Sunday Age

‘A ventriloqual tour de force.’
Sydney Morning Herald

‘There is nothing like a re-jacketing to bring a great book back into the foreground. Dark Places trumps most of Grenville’s other books and proves that she is one of Australia’s top authors. A companion volume to Lilian’s Story, this is the dark tale of Lillian’s father whose abuse led to her madness. This sensitively told story places Sydney in its historical context and unpacks the sins of our fathers in a visceral way.’
Brisbane Sunday Mail

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Places (aka Albion’s Story) is the prequel to Lilian’s Story by Kate Grenville, although it was published after Lilian’s Story. Albion Gidley Singer can be defined as: the son of George Augustus Singer and Angelica Singer; the brother of Kristabel Singer; an acquaintance of James Ogilvie; proprietor of Singer Enterprises and pillar of society; husband of Norah Singer; father of Lilian and John Singer. But who is he really? He cannot grasp his real self; he feels he is an empty, hollow shell. This novel is filled with beautiful, evocative prose and haunting characters. The story dovetails neatly with events in Lilian’s Story, and, after reading that novel, it is intriguing to see Albion’s point of view of events described in common. It is also interesting to come to understand how Lilian’s father came to be the way he was. A thought-provoking read.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is certainly a dark book about an especially nasty piece of work by the name of Albion Gidley Singer - he is a stinker! His misogynist treatment of his own wife and daughter and females in general and his misguided belief in his own superiority make for disturbing, unrelenting reading. The novel, written in 1995 well before the advent of the 'me too' movement and impassioned Prime Ministerial parliamentary speeches surprised me with its vehement portrayal of the attitudes and behaviours of some men in the first half of the twentieth century.

Dark Places is certainly a very different book to other Kate Grenville books I have read and I have to admit to being disappointed with this offering.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, engaging, disturbing, comical, tragic novel narrated by Albion Gidley Singer, who writes his life story. It is the portrait of a particularly unlikeable, arrogant, misogynistic, rapist, who abuses people in his power, mentally, physically and sexually.

Strangely, I found this book to be mainly an entertaining read. Albion describes a number of scenes from his perspective, glossing over his poor behaviour, yet providing enough detail to give the reader an idea of how other people would view his actions.

This book was shortlisted for the 1994 Miles Franklin award.

[Aenor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this deliciously disturbing, psychologically astute book. Its central character - Albion Gidley Springer - is all too plausibly shaped by the family and milieu in which he's raised. Lacking a solid sense of himself, he learns by careful observation how to be a man, a friend, a husband, a company boss. But the price of this is a lifetime of anxiety that others will see through his thin mask and glimpse the void that is within him. The other problem for Gidley (or rather for his wife, sister, daughter, female employees etc) is that he lacks any ability to understand or empathise with women, and cannot comprehend how the interaction between man and woman can be about anything other than loveless sex. When the world fails to conform to his understanding of it, he is bewildered and dangerous.

[Alexandra Daw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness me. What a portrait of a character. A grim and harrowing one to be sure.

[Ira Therebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Lilian's story as well. And I kind of liked this book even more. This is about her horrible father who pretty much destroyed her life. While I truly emphasized with her in the first book this one added a lot to it.

Just like in Lilian's story my least favorite part was his childhood. Albion as a son. Seems like Kate Grenville isn't at her best when writing about children. But then the book truly picked up. It was a great portrayal of a disgusting man in his own narration. Going from the childhood days where he was mistreated himself we can see him become worse and worse as a human being with each chapter. I think this was very well done. This is probably what makes the book even better than the first.

I must say I felt sad for Albion. The way he saw the world, always being against and apparently never truly enjoying it or allowing himself to live not by the rules he created in his head was pretty sad. Does it mean I liked him? Not at all. His world view and insecurities were beaten by his view of others and actions towards them (mainly his wife and daughter). So this again was a great success in portraying this character.

Writing was very impressive especially when Albion as thinking about his daughter. All the thoughts and descriptions of the way he saw her. From that fat girl he found repulsive to the scene where he is hiding watching her with Duncan and what happened after. Those chapters were absolutely perfect writing.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read ‘Lillian’s story’ I read this knowing exactly where it would land, but not how it would get there.

Bravo, Kate Grenville.

I don’t know how you could have lived with Albion Gidley Singer in your head.

[suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

yup...

[sisterimapoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read Lillian's Story and heard that Grenville had written an parallel novel about Lillian's father I knew I had to read it. And I was not disappointed. Vile though the man is.

I can't say I ever felt sympathy for Albion, or even wavered slightly in my dislike for him. In fact at times it was quite distasteful to spend so much time in his company. But Grenville writes so well that I couldn't quite turn away. I had to keep reading to know how low he would stoop, and where his sorry tale would deliver him.

Grenville writes well. She writes well about women, and also about men. She plots and paces and delivers another story told in quite a straightforward way, but one that will linger in my mind for far longer than other more high impact novels.

[Toni Umar · Rating 4 out of 5]

this author has an amazing writing style that really encourages the reader to keep reading. The topic is not pleasant - the book has a main character who has no nice ways about him at all - as he grows older he becomes nastier and I really wanted to stop reading at many points. But I couldn't stop reading. The content is confronting, but I found it made me think about similar people and why individuals choose to do certain things and the effect it has on the family. Very interesting - so despite a nasty main character this was a very good book!

[Velvetink · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's rare that I don't finish a book. This one is one of them.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only a great writer can make you truly hate their character but still be extremely engaged in their story.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Lilian’s story, didn’t like this one. I wasn’t sure if it was written as an explanation for his behavior (which in my eyes is inexcusable) or if I was supposed to empathize with him (which I couldn’t). I just didn’t feel it added to Lilian’s story

I can see other people liked it but it just wasn’t for me.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly uncomfortable read with an unreliable and cruel narrator. The protagonist feels like a mixture of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho and a weedy Incel, full of insecurity and hatred for women. It's a lot, but very engaging.

[Anastasia Phillip · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weird ass long ass book

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

After battling Deja vu for two chapters, I realised that I read this three years Go

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

For 300 Pages of "Dark Places" the reader takes a comic journey through the bourgeois grotesque of middle class 20th century Australia. It reminded me of the Southern American grotesques of Eudora Welty, misshapen characters with a comic flair, only transplanted to the land down under. The lead character, Albion Gidley Singer, is the epitome of corrupt patriarchy in a bourgeois society, and seems to be completely indifferent to it, even innocent -- a big, overblown beach ball of a man drifting (or lazily bouncing) through life.

But as the last pages turn dark, we see that Albion is anything but innocent. And, in reality, we've read that about him that all along. He gropes through one sexual escapade after another with seeming indifference, only rising to genuine feeling in the two episodes in which he relates to other men.

That should be telling enough for how he mistreats the women in his life. It's as if he falls into situations with them, a complete innocent, and then completely abandons any sense of morals for a devil-may-care attitude. Or maybe it's just a complacency -- "Now-I-have-to-get-through-this." At any rate, it's an attitude which turns bad, monstrously bad, in all cases.

I gave it four stars because it's not perfect. The author paints her story as a gothic portrayal of how a monstrous man turns monstrous while maintaining an unkowing innocence. But the comic nature of most of the book masks that horrible side and that, though wonderfully ambiguous, makes the storytelling a little uneven. But it's a story that definitely makes a reader think about how 20th century society could create, and even applaud, a monster such as Kate Grenville has created here.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't give this any more than three stars. It disgusts me. The character disgusts me, but actually...for that, I like the book. I needed to know why someone like Albion would do what he did to Lilian, and that is the only reason I read this book. I hate his decisions. I hate the hollow being that he was written to be, and the way that he found his way to a "whole" existence. But I didn't find him entirely unrelatable. Which is scary, but also wonderful.
Aside from that, I also just appreciate this book for what it for what it is. The writing style is lovely, and easy to read. I had already come to know the characters from Lilian's Story, but I feel like I gained greater insight through Albion's eyes, which I suppose was sort of the point of this book, added perspective.
In short, I suppose, it's painful and grotesque, but beautiful in an exposing-the-darkness-of humanity-as-something-not-so-alien kind of way.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book, but struggled to have any sympathy with the lead character, apart from when he was a child. I kept thinking that if the book had been written by a man, I would have put it down. Just the inappropriateness of all his feelings and attitudes towards the women — those in his life, on the periphery of his life and in general — I found quite repulsive. It reminded me of a revolting man I once knew who, when asked whether his wife had had a baby girl or a baby boy, replied 'the slotted variety'. Grenville is a wonderful writer, and managed to convey a real sense of how dangerous Albion Gidley Singer was, while at the same time showing him as a pathetic creature. I'm now reading Lilian's Story, about his daughter, and I get the feeling Grenville may have needed to write that book as much as I need to read it.

[Cathc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a very difficult book to read and at several points early on was prepared to give up. The reason for this is that I found the leading character, Albion Greville Singer to be so completely repulsive. It might well be that he was a product of his Victorian upbringing but the man is a sexual predator who brought grief and misery to those around him, employees and family alike. I plodded to the end in the hope that he would finally get his well deserved comeuppance and I suppose he does in a way, but even this is not fully satisfactory. Justice is most certainly not done. I think though, that I will have to read Lilian's Story, the sequel to this. I suspect that it might well give some closure.

[Stephen Orr · Rating 5 out of 5]

gee i liked reading this book.
i was so totally in awe of the writing. the incredibly talented authentic prose…. and the continually jaw dropping metaphors.
brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
this heinous man painted in all his shades of humanity.
at times i was laughing, at times i was consumed by pathos, many other times totally appalled.
the story of albion singer in not a simple one. clearly a villainous literary figure but there was just so much more that drew me into the story.
i consumed this novel with absolute delight. my second title by this author, the other being secret river.
my next job, to track down a copy of lilians story.
can’t rate this one more highly. five glorious stars.

[Oanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently written. Certainly not a light read, nor the kind of read for people who must empathise with their protagonists. The narrator (Albion Gidley Singer, book written in first person) is not in the least bit likeable, & be behaves and thinks atrociously. But for all of that, Kate Grenville has done an excellent job of taking you into his story. This was very readable. It will make you squirm.

Niggly issue: it begins as if Albion is writing his story in his old age, with some degree of remorse. It does not end in such a way as to tie back into how it began. Oversight? Or misreading on my part?

[Ashley Madden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully written but holy smokes, it is brutal to read. I could barely get through it and the end was the hardest part. I probably should have started with Lilian's Story. I'm starting on that one next but this one left me pretty fatigued about the whole storyline. Perhaps before the "Age of Trump", I could have been a little more objective, but a story featuring this level of blatant and audacious misogyny and narcissism is hitting a little to close to home these days. I'll also say if you are someone for whom sexual assault is a sensitive or difficult subject, this could be a very difficult book to read. Tread lightly.

[Shan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love Kate Grenville's novels and inhale them within days. Not Dark Places. Not because of the writing, because of the character. He's awful. And the story left me feeling a bit off. So, this tells you the writing is great as it really hits in the gut. If you enjoy a first person character study, especially of an early-Australian businessman who is painfully lacking any self-awareness, this will be your jam.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved and hated this book. It tells the story of Albion Gidley Singer, a man who lacks personality to the extent that he memorises multiple facts so that he can make conversation.

Having been neglected by his own mother, he is a misogynist to such an extent that he believes he has the right to conquer any woman, even his own daughter, and, indeed, he believes that he only becomes whole after he does that.

He is such an awful character that I really disliked him, but Kate Grenville draws him so well, that I couldn't put the book down until it reached its terrible conclusion.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's two days since I finished this book and I am still overcome. I almost stopped reading it several times because it was too uncomfortable reading in the first person about someone whose psyche becomes so twisted over his lifetime that he hurts everyone around him. The last half hour reading overwhelmed me. I just finished THe Secret River and I think Kate Grenville is one of the best authors I have ever read. I am looking at everyone around me a little differently since reading this book.