The Clockmaker's Daughter

When he returned from the war, Leonard felt that he didn’t fit anywhere. He feels the need to escape from the childhood memories of his brother. In 1924, he took a walking tour across England, which helped to calm his restlessness somewhat. He went back to school to study Edward Radcliffe and the Magenta Brotherhood. He won an art residency to stay at Birchwood, sponsored by Lucy Radcliffe, and he is happy to be there.

As Leonard returns to the house from his swim, his girlfriend, Kitty, is waiting for him. They discuss his work. Leonard is beginning to doubt that the death of Fanny Brown led to Edward’s long spiral and decline. Leonard is embarrassed when Kitty teases him about talking to a woman, as he has been having vivid dreams about a woman named Lily Millington. Kitty attributes it to his use of opium, which is the only thing that dulls his night terrors.

Leonard visits the grave of Edward Radcliffe, who is buried outside a small church not far from Birchwood. He’d been sitting there when Lucy Radcliffe came to sit beside him. He asked to interview her, and she consented. Leonard has read letters that Edward sent to Lucy from school, including references to an event they called “the Night of the Following” (234). He visits Lucy at her cottage and she invites him inside.

Lucy is reading an article that says that the universe is expanding since the Big Bang, and she’s dazzled: “We might be on the verge of understanding the very birth of the stars, Mr. Gilbert—the stars” (238). Leonard reveals that his brother, Tom, died in the war. Lucy says to think of Edward as a storyteller; that was his gift. She explains the “Night of the Following” (241). When he was 14 and staying at their grandfather’s estate not far away, Edward tried to raise a ghost. He saw something in the woods and, afraid he was being followed, ran toward a house where he saw a light in the attic window. The house was Birchwood, which was built in the 16th century with special places to hide Catholic priests. The land is associated with a folktale of the Eldritch Children, which Lucy then relates.

Long ago, three fairy children appeared in the local village and were taken in by an elderly couple. However, when anything went wrong in the village, the children were blamed. The family retreated to a small farm near the river, but when illness struck the village, the townspeople marched on them. Suddenly the Fairy Queen arrived and cast a spell of protection on the house and land to repay the couple for taking care of her children. Legend has it that a trace of the “fairy enchantment” remains and “appears to a lucky few as a light, high up in the attic window” of Birchwood (243).

Lucy was there with the artists the summer of 1862 and confirms Leonard’s theory that Edward and his friend, Thurston Holmes, had fought about something. Leonard suspects that it was Edward’s new model, Lily Millington. Lucy shares with him a letter from Edward in which he raves about finding Lily, who takes his breath away. He writes: “She is truth; truth is beauty; and beauty is divine” (249). Lucy confirms that Edward loved Lily to the point of madness. Leonard guesses that Lily betrayed him and that drove Edward to despair. Lucy ends their interview, telling Leonard that truth depends on who is telling the story.

Walking back to Birchwood, Leonard reflects on what Lucy said about closing the school. It ended in 1901 after a girl drowned and parents began withdrawing their children. He thinks about the first time that he and Kitty slept together when he was home on leave in 1916. He walked her home after a dance and they agreed to never tell Tom, since Kitty was engaged to Tom and loved him. Three days later, Tom was killed in No Man’s Land by a piece of shrapnel, and Leonard heard Tom calling for him as he bled to death. Tom was carrying a letter from Kitty and a silver thruppence that Leonard now carries. Feeling that they caused Tom’s death, he and Kitty now pretend that they love one another, “bound by grief and guilt” (259).

As he reaches Birchwood, Leonard is surprised to see a woman sleeping under the Japanese maple tree. It is the woman whom he saw earlier, walking with her lover. She wakes and looks at the house, and Leonard is struck by the look on her face, one of “purity, simplicity, love” (260).

Birdie’s father told her that he saw her mother in the window of her family home when he went to repair a clock and it was as if his entire life till then had been lived in half-light. Birdie says that she was born for a third time in Drury Lane in 1861 when she met Edward.

Birdie’s new ruse involves mingling at the theater, and one night she manages to slip away from Martin, who insists on watching over her. Outside in the alley, Edward approaches her. Martin interrupts, and Edward asks to meet her family so that he might paint her. He asks her name, and she says that it is Lily Millington.

Inside Edward’s studio, there is no clock. It is hard, Birdie/Lily says, “not to fall in love with a handsome man who pays you his complete attention” (266). After six months of work, Edward’s painting, La Belle, is exhibited at the Royal Academy. Everyone is astonished by the magnificent painting, but Birdie/Lily is humiliated when she hears Thurston and a woman named Frances Brown deride her. Frances is Edward’s fiancée, and Birdie/Lily didn’t even know he was engaged.

Outside the academy, Birdie/Lily is approached by Thurston. She tells him to go away and goes to visit Pale Joe, who informs her that she is in love. Edward comes to see her, and Birdie/Lily feels the urge to confess the truth about herself but doesn’t. Edward asks to paint her again and takes her away.