Past Caring

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A wonderful read . . . the satisfying climax weaves together the strands of past and present . . . A poised telling of a complex tale.” Publishers Weekly The narration is steady and clear and helps keep the plot focussed. This story is long so is good value for money and the ending is unexpected so you keep going all the way to the last few minutes. Martin Radford is a floundering, unemployed historian with a dim future who jumps at the chance to research the memoirs of Edwin Strafford, a young Edwardian cabinet minister and contemporary of Churchill and Lloyd George with a promising career that went mysteriously astray. Radford’s own blunders will unfold on this journey as he investigates Strafford’s past in this blended mix of politics, romance and historical thriller. At a luxurious villa on the sun-soaked island of Madeira, unemployed historian Martin Radford is given a second chance. Martin is shown the leather-bound journal of another ruined man, former British cabinet minister Edwin Strafford. Strafford himself, his family and his life’s many secrets and discoveries are by far more noteworthy and remarkable than the markedly tarnished Radford, whose flaws Goddard uses to make him credible if not altogether likable.

This is a book that doesn't neatly fit a genre. It follows the story of a man who is in the English cabinet before WW1 who falls in love with a suffragette. He mysteriously loses his job and his fiancee and never finds out why. His colleagues wont speak to him and the girl immediately leaves the country. He is given the opportunity of lifetime when he is asked to come to the island of Madeira, off the Portuguese coast, to listen to a proposal by a man named Leo Sellitt. He has bought an estate that used to belong to Edwin Stafford, appointed Home Secretary in 1908, who disappeared from politics under mysterious circumstances. Stafford left a journal behind that might shed light on his life.This breathless and unending case takes Max to London from far North of Scotland and all the way to Paris, where the world’s government are still but bartering over the spoils right in the aftermath of the Great war. The stakes here are so high and it is a matter of life and death to everyone involved.

From a collection of more than 20 mystery thrillers, that will indeed enthrall and satisfy you as a lover of such genre, to unprincipled chicanery and unforgiven betrayals as well as unforgotten jealousy, are just but part of the infinite capacity of imagination and intrigues that Robert Goddard books will present to you. Basically, Robert novels and especially his thrillers do have a historical settings and elements staged in some provincial English towns and cities bringing in a number of plots twists.Plus, his books always involve the lead character, gradually unraveling a conspiracy which for a very long time been kept as a secret, and through means of historical documents like the diaries or simply by word of mouth testimonies that have been handed down from one individual to another. About three times during this book I found myself feeling that it was starting to drag. Each time, Goddard broke this feeling with a series of twists and revelations that nearly floored me on occasion, but I still feel this book could have done with a stricter editorial hand at the rudder. You could take virtually any passage from this book and it would read really well on its own, so I understand why you wouldn't want to cut any of it, but when you've got a pacing problem it's time to kill your darlings. Into the Blue was adapted for television in 1997 and starred John Thaw in the lead role of Harry Barnett. Robert Goddard was not impressed with the adaptation. In an interview, he said "The TV version of Into the Blue was a travesty of the story I wrote and I am determined that any future adaptations should be more faithful to the original".I have read a few Goddard's novels now and have enjoyed them all and this is no exception. There is a reason though for the three stars rather than four. Let me explain. Combines the expert suspense manipulation skills of a Daphne DuMaurier romance with those of a John Le Carre thriller.” New York Times

Martin’s investigations trigger a violent series of events, throwing him straight into the path of those who believed they had escaped punishment for crimes long past but never paid for . . . And Martin himself may find that he must risk his life to discover the truth. A wonderful read …the satisfying climax weaves together the strands of past and present.…A poised telling of a complex tale.” Publishers Weekly Many years ago, when I was a teenager, my father read this book and was very moved by the story. I read it too, and like the Hardy poem the author quotes, I've felt haunted by this story for a long time, even after forgetting the name of the book and the names of the main characters. Goddard's 1990 book Into the Blue was the inaugural winner of the W H Smith Thumping Good Read Award, presented to the best new fiction author of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed this long, convoluted, unpredictable and clever novel! It does not clearly fit into any genre as it includes elements of political wheeling and dealing, crime, war and romance.

Publication Order of Umiko Wada Books

This is in no way a fast paced, regular thriller kind of book. This is well-written, being rather literary in places and is considered and smooth in its pace. This is a steady, delectable, slow burn of a book, yet it does not flag or become bogged down. Martin is intrigued. Strafford resigned at the height of his career, disappearing from the public eye. The woman he loved, for whom he was willing to sacrifice everything, suddenly and coldly rejected him. All the reasons for his fall from grace are shrouded in darkness. Into the Blue (May 1990), ISBN 0-593-01808-7. (Harry Barnett, Book 1) (adapted as a TV film in 1996 starring John Thaw) Combines the expert suspensemanipulation skills of a Daphne DuMaurier romance with those of a John Le Carre thriller.” New York Times

Toupee for a Bald Tyre. (Harry Barnett). Included in The Detection Collection ISBN 978-0-00-756971-7 (Orion, 2005) So, for the first half of the book one is continually wondering what revelation could possible cause her (and Asquith) to behave in the way they did, and for the second half one is incredulous at the frankly bizarre and insipid behaviour of two people supposedly deeply in love. Thirdly, it is similarly inconceivable that Elizabeth would not have told Edwin. When first told herself, her initial reaction would have been one of utter disbelief - evidence notwithstanding. She would have been quite desperate to get to the truth of the matter. She would have gone through as many scenarios as she could imagine that would have exonerated her intended. Firstly, it is all but inconceivable that the prior marriage could have been kept secret from the world at large, even without considering the behaviour of the two main actors: Elizabeth and Erwin. At a lush villa on the sun-soaked island of Madeira, Martin Radford is given a second chance. His life ruined by scandal, Martin holds in his hands the leather-bound journal of another ruined man, former British cabinet minister Edwin Strafford. What’s more, Martin is being offered a job—to return to England and investigate the rise and fall of Strafford, an ambitious young politician whose downfall, in 1910, is as mysterious as the strange deaths that still haunt his family.

Summary

Robert Goddard's first novel, PAST CARING, made an impression when it came out almost twenty years ago, receiving great praise from critics and a Booker Award nomination for Best First Novel. Now with the book's latest printing, nothing has changed. It is still a great book and new readers, always hoping for a good mystery, will be pleased to discover it.