Frances Fyfield: Half Light (USA 2014)

From the Publisher:
Elisabeth is a picture restorer. This gives her the solitude and independence she needs -- living and working alone in her flat. Despite her skills and reliability, Elisabeth undercharges for her work -- valuing the worth of the paintings rather more than she values herself. Her ambitions are modest: beauty to look upon, unintrusive friendships, and complete privacy. But when a mysterious and obviously wealthy man commissions her to restore his fabulous collection, an uncharacteristic combination of curiosity and financial need prompts her to accept his offer. Elisabeth soon realizes her error, as the past and the present combine to make privacy her nemesis. As she becomes a hostage to her patron, her lover and her friend realize they know nothing about her, or where she might be.

Frances Fyfield: Half Light. A Novel. Witness Impulse / HarperCollins Publ., ISBN: 9780062303974 (April, 2014), eBook, 444 KB (ca. 352 p.), $2.99.

Frances Fyfield: Half Light (UK 2005)

From the Publisher:
Elisabeth is a restorer of paintings, delighting in her work as she coaxes secrets from damaged canvas and returns them to their original glowing glory. She savours the tranquility demanded by her craft and by her soul, a peace shared only with her lover Francis. He -- amiable, handsome, patrician -- is baffled by her contrasting sensual generosity and emotional reserve; then is completely flummoxed when she disappears.

The police dismiss his worries, so he searches for her himself, joining forces with Annie Macalpine, an antiques dealer whose contacts eventually reveal that Elisabeth has undertaken a commission to restore a wealthy collector's paintings, a patron of the arts whose private demons have forged a brutal sense of entitlement. Asa madman's vice tightens around her, Elisabeth remains trapped in an elegant prison, where beautifully restored works of art are savagely destroyed...

Frances Fyfield: Half Light. Time Warner Paperbacks, ISBN: 0751532371 (December, 2005), 344 p., £6.99.

Frances Fyfield writing as Frances Hegarty: Half Light (UK 1993)

From the Publisher:
Elisabeth Young is a picture restorer with modest needs -- complete privacy and the beauty of the paintings she painstakingly brings back to life. But as she works absorbed and alone in her basement flat, she becomes haunted by the echo of mysterious footsteps and a silent figure in the shadows.

When a wealthy but disfigured recluse persistently invites her to restore his remarkable collection, the offer finally proves irresistible. His luxurious Westminster residence seems to be the refuge she seeks -- because of the warmth, because of the paintings and because she has become so desperately afraid of the footsteps outside. Too late, Elisabeth realizes her error as the past and the present combine to make privacy her nemesis.

'In tackling head-on the horrors people inflict on one another, and in marshalling her strong effects, Frances Hegarty shows herself to be both resolute and resonant' -- The Times Literary Supplement

'[A] subtle psycho-chiller... with a disturbing finale' -- The Times

Frances Fyfield writing as Frances Hegarty: Half Light. The echoes of the past followed her like footsteps in the dark... Penguin Books, ISBN: 0140168524 (April, 1993), 315 p., £4.99.

Frances Hegarty: Half Light (UK 1992)

From the Publisher:
"He had known very well where she lived, and he knew equally her habit of not answering the door. There was also a willingness, quite deplorable in a woman of her age, he thought, to travel alone and ignore whatever followed her; she would dismiss some fears as puerile fantasies while exaggerating the rest. But Elisabeth was so beautiful, so completely unaware of it, like the women in his Portraits."

Elisabeth is a Picture restorer. This gives her a solitude and independence she needs -- living and working alone in her flat. Despite her skills and reliability, Elisabeth undercharges for her work -- valuing the worth of the paintings rather more than herself. Her ambitions are modest: beauty to look upon, unintrusive friendships and complete privacy. But when a mysterious and obviously wealthy man commissions her to restore his fabulous collection, an uncharacteristic combination of curiosity and financial need prompts her finally to take up his offer. Elisabeth soon realizes her error, as the past and the present combine to make privacy her nemesis.

As she becomes hostage to her patron, her lover and her friend realize they know nothing about her, or where she might be.
Half Light, a stunning novel of suspense and accurate psychological insight, confirms Frances Hegarty as a major storyteller. In this novel, all the characters are trapped by their partial understanding of themselves and one another. Only Elisabeth tries not to influence the lives of others, but only one character contrives to threaten and control life itself in a horrifying conclusion.

This is the second novel by Frances Hegarty. The first, The Playroom, received exceptional reviews. Frances Hegarty has also written four novels under the Pseudonym Frances Fyfield. She is a criminal lawyer, living and practising in central London.

Frances Hegarty: Half Light. Hamish Hamilton, ISBN: 0241132290 (April, 1992), 315 p., £14.99.