Albion Gidley Singer creates his world as a vast collection of facts-facts he uses to support his own power and status. After an awkward childhood, aware that he is a disappointment to his father, he acquires, the trappings of respectability-success in business, a family. But beneath his comically grand exterior Albion's soul remains a dark place of fear and loathing, driving him to terrifying deeds. Kate Grenville, author of the award-winning The Secret River, takes us inside the mind of one of her most powerful creations: a man who can persuade himself that he has the right, perhaps even the duty, to conquer and subdue the mocking flesh of any woman-even his daughter Lilian-the unforgettable character Grenville introduced in her brilliant debut Lilian's Story.