Nothing is Black

by Deirdre Madden

  Markus didn’t notice the woman until Claire pointed her out to him.

  ‘Before God,’ she said, ‘we are all like that.’ She could see that this angered him: she had known it would, but she persisted. ‘Don’t you see how the people shun her? In her weakness and destitution they recognize something of themselves, and it frightens them. They want to deny it, so they try to pretend that she doesn’t even exist.’ He stared at her coldly, and she realized then that their life together was over.

  ‘Why do you despise people?’ he asked, after a moment’s pause.

  ‘I don’t, Markus, and you know that I don’t.’

  ‘What do you feel, then, when you look at the world? When you look at this?’ And he gestured at the street.

  She was going to say, ‘Pity,’ but when she spoke, she said, ‘Love.’

  She picked up the apple she had been drawing, and examined it as closely as she had examined the texture of the page which bore its image. The fruit had lost its lustre during the days she had kept it in the studio. The skin was puckered and shrunken; and the deep fragrant scent of the apple had diminished to an unpleasantly sweet smell, redolent of decay. What would she draw tomorrow? A loaf. Roses. More fruit.

  Sometimes it was easy to forget that life was driven by necessity. The world today conspired to induce such forgetfulness. What was worth knowing in life? The limits, the severe limits of one’s understanding and abilities, the power of love and forgiveness; and that life was nothing if not mysterious.

  She heard a car drive up to the house. The front door slammed, she heard voices, then the car drove away again and there was silence. Claire put aside the sketch book, and turned her attention to her real work.

  By the Same Author

  HIDDEN SYMPTOMS

  THE BIRDS OF THE INNOCENT WOOD

  REMEMBERING LIGHT AND STONE

  About the Author

  Deirdre Madden is from Toomebridge, Co. Antrim. Her novels include The Birds of Innocent Wood, Nothing is Black, One by One in the Darkness, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and Authenticity. Her novel Molly Fox’s Birthday also was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She teaches at Trinity College, Dublin and is a member of the Irish Arts Academy Aosdana.

  Copyright

  First published in 1994

  by Faber and Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  This ebook edition first published in 2012

  All rights reserved

  © Deirdre Madden, 1994

  The right of Deirdre Madden to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–29808–2