In The Dark by Deborah Moggach

 

Britain during the first World War.  Eithne Clay's husband is in France, fighting, leaving her to run the boarding house with only the help of her son and the maid, Winnie.  Times are tight and it's getting hard to feed everyone.  There's the enigmatic man blinded in battle. There's the family whose father came home shell shocked and cannot leave their room.  Several older women live there.  Eithne knows some of them are getting behind on their rent but what can she do?  There's nowhere else for them to go.  

Things get worse when her husband is killed but help is around the corner.  Mr. Turk is the neighborhood butcher but much more.  His shop has expanded to triple the size during the war and he always has plenty of meat when other shops have only scraps.  He sets his sights on Eithne and Mr. Turk always gets what he wants.  Soon the two are married and everything is about to change.

Eithne's son and Winnie unite in a silent battle against Mr. Turk.  They can see that there is something wrong about him even when no one else can.  Then Winnie has a personal issue and leaves and Mr. Turk gives the other lodgers notice.  What will happen to everyone?

Deborah Moggach is an English author whose best known book is Tulip Fever about the obsession with tulip bulbs that seized the world.  She writes about family relationships and women finding their way in the world.  Her work has been adapted for television series and movies.  In this novel, Eithne's discovery of obsessional sex leading her to ignore all her other relationships is revelatory.  The son is the silent hero who struggles on to keep things going and to fight the evil that has overtaken their lives.  This book is recommended for readers of historical and family fiction.