The Darkest Hour

The Darkest Hour
Barbara Erskine

From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes an epic tale of love, passion and heartbreak.In the summer of 1940, eyes are focussed on the skies above the South of England: the Battle for Britain has just begun. But Evie Lucas has eyes for no-one but a dashing young pilot called Tony. Evie has a glittering career as an artist ahead of her but seems only to be fascinated in sketching portraits of him…Seventy years later, recently widowed art historian Lucy is putting the pieces of her life back together, and to do that she needs to uncover the mystery surrounding a painting in her home. As Lucy ties up the loose ends of one lifetime, she stirs up a hornet’s nest of history in another. Suddenly, Lucy finds herself in danger from people past and present who have no intention of letting an untold truth ever surface.Some stories are buried in the darkness forever. Some are just waiting to be told…

Copyright (#ulink_1c526756-1ca1-551b-be4f-005fb9c923ec)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2014 This edition published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

Copyright © Barbara Erskine 2014

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016

Cover images © Hazel McAllister/Alamy (swallow); Shutterstock.com (http://www.Shutterstock.com) (all other images)

Barbara Erskine asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007513123

Ebook Edition © March 2016 ISBN: 9780007513147

Version: 2018-01-30

Dedication (#ulink_589703db-84a6-5715-8ceb-5736203d585a)

For my Dad, with love

and

In memory of my darling Mummy

who had her own part in the origins

of this story, and who would have loved

to join in the adventure of writing it.

Contents

Cover (#u0de3d871-bb00-59b0-b064-69a7c3204c47)

Title Page (#ufde80b37-f3eb-51aa-8493-0d95786c59bd)

Copyright (#u29dfbb42-2971-539f-921c-4f92a8fd55ee)

Dedication (#uafcc0e28-b2ef-5bd3-b5ab-5ea58054e015)

The Family Tree (#u2b20de46-2d8e-587e-b219-981486fe6107)

Prologue (#u2084e57c-35b0-56c4-94d6-e515b2f347e6)

Chapter 1 (#u56a6d066-2ff9-524a-97b9-2161c8f240fd)

Chapter 2 (#u305e1703-3437-59bb-b7d9-1e94ec59dbe1)

Chapter 3 (#u0e3e6acd-f03d-55ec-b356-5bc744b7bfba)

Chapter 4 (#u96ebd1de-d6b8-5d04-a1c8-d5f93021e276)

Chapter 5 (#u014b696e-74fd-5e1c-8730-19e1844248e9)

Chapter 6 (#u39ddd407-d4c7-5074-b48d-d1cbc53da3a1)

Chapter 7 (#u6198e0cb-bef6-5864-8284-a6d89ab9a173)

Chapter 8 (#ub8ce05f3-ce73-5f46-b0ac-922a8b9d8fa2)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)