Frances, a young New Zealand woman, is laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Jamaica in 1894. Her enigmatic husband, the Rev. William Hammond, cannot be found. Reports are later sent to her brothers alleging fraud and, perhaps, murder. Hammond has long been a restless and elusive traveller, and the credentials of someone who moves so often from place to place are not easy to verify. When Frances joins him the allure or exotic journeys is soon overshadowed by a sense of foreboding. Does he really want her or is she in the way? The End of Longing is a thrilling, bitter-beautiful novel which skillfully explores troubled identity and complex motives.
