Both Robin and Strike were broken down to their low nigredo (black) point at Christmas, where Strike is reduced to vomiting in his bathroom and Robin to sobbing in her parents' backyard. Happily, things start looking up for both of them, and the albedo indicators start pouring in. Strike makes it to St. Mawes in time to be trapped there by torrential rains, and finds "all the gaudy summertime prettiness of St. Mawes wiped away" by the rain. He finds his aunt similarly changed into someone with whom he can communicate honestly:
Just as her storm-ravaged birthplace had revealed a different aspect in adversity, so an unfamiliar Joan was emerging, a Joan who asked open-ended questions that were not designed to elicit confirmation of her own biases, or thinly veiled requests for comforting lies.
The albedo elements continue after Strike returns to London.
- Robin identifies Shifty’s “blonde friend,” Elinor (“light of God”) Dean.
- The initial refusal of the authorities to let Strike interview Creed leaves Robin feeling like they were, “pointlessly searching rockpools, while yards away the great white slid away, untouchable, into dark water.”
- Amanda White reconsiders her monetary demands for her story.
- Robin determines that the “white van” was not Creed’s
- Robin takes a bubble bath, then toasts Max’s new job with him with champagne on his creamy white sofas.
- Strike and Robin make a rainy-day visit to Hampton Court, to meet Cynthia (another name for Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, literally dressed as a Queen).
- Strike and Robin visit Broom House with rain beating on the surface of the koi ponds, with "vivid red, white and black shapes moving beneath the surface."
- Roy Phipps is reduced to tears and confesses his long-ago cruelty to Margot ("pearl") which he thinks led to her death.
Picking up with Chapter 37, the albedo elements continue to abound.
- “Everlasting” rain continues as February starts, preventing a visit to Cornwall.
- Polworth rows across floodwaters to take Joan and Ted food.
- Robin learns of Julie Wilkes’s death by drowning.
- Strike calls bleach-blonde Irene, who rambles about Bognor Regis, Clacton-on-sea and Leamington Spa, and gushes about her love of watery vacation spots.
- By near miracle, Strike locates a rain-soaked Samhain Athorn.
- Strike reflects on Talbot’s notebooks, repeating the phrase, Water everywhere.
- Strike speaks to the alleged Clare (“bright”) Spencer.
- Robin and Strike have their Valentine’s Day fight on a rainy street.
- Robin locates online information about Satchwell’s exhibit in Leamington Spa.
- Strike and Lucy journey to St. Mawes amid rain and floods to be at Joan’s deathbed. “To Strike’s grateful surprise, the crisis had revealed a different Lucy, just as illness had uncovered a different Joan.” The siblings are able to focus on their common goal rather than squabble.
- Dave Polworth and friends bear them safely over the floodwaters.
- Robin travels to Leamington Spa and does a tarot reading, drawing cards with water and moon images. She meets Satchwell at the exhibit in the Pump Rooms, amid old fountains that once held the “health-giving spa waters.” She discovers the “pillow dream” refers to the possible smothering of Satchwell’s disabled sister, Blanche (“white.”)
- Joan’s funeral takes place in a white church, with sea-themed stained glass scenes and concludes with an ocean-themed “hymn most beloved of sailors.” At the wake, one of Polworth’s daughters falls into the surf, and Strike notes a white seagull flying out to sea.
- Amanda White finally tells her story.
- Strike visits Janice, interrupting her viewing of a program about white bridal gowns, “with bling.”
- On the way to interview the Bayliss sisters, Robin makes a stop at Alexandra Lake and sees waterfowl.
As in Harry Potter , the transition from albedo to rubedo (red) occurs at Easter and is marked both by pink and the dissolution of white.
- Strike returns to St. Mawes under a coral pink sky.
- Joan's lily-urn dissappears into the ocean, leaving her favorite pink roses on the surface..
- Rozwyn ("white rose") Polworth cries: in other words she "breaks down" or "dissolves in tears."
On the way back from the scattering, Strike undergoes the first of several rubedo-phase trials, when he has to duck into a red phone box to save Charlotte from her suicide attempt.
- Note that this is a parallel to COE, where he listens to Robin's attack on cell phone, while summoning help from a different phone. The difference is, his aid was superficial in COE, Robin saved herself through her self-defense training and her rape alarm. Charlotte likely would have died without his intervention.
Other moments in this section that I especially like include:
- Strike's first visit to the Athorns and especially his interactions with Samhain. I also like that Strike's query about Margot is answered by a dinging parakeet bell, indicating "Bluey's cleverer than Billy Bob," meaning that Bluey (Strike) will solve the mystery that Billy Bob (Talbot) failed to do.
- Robin standing up for herself on Valentine's Day and insisting on Strike treating her better.
- Robin's kick-ass interview with Paul Satchwell, where she literally and figuratively "finished his chips."
- Jack's trip to the pub with Strike and Polworth.
- The reconciliation among the Bayliss sisters.
We'll finish up with Troubled Blood tomorrow.
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