A God &
His Gifts

BRIEF PLOT SUMMARY

 

Hereward Egerton - successful novelist, self-anointed household deity, heir to a baronetcy and all-round entitled disaster - proposes marriage to his long-standing lover Rosa Lindsay. When she refuses, citing her unsuitability for family life, Hereward promptly marries their neighbour’s daughter, the compliant Ada Merton, chosen precisely because she will not challenge his need to keep his lover and sister in close orbit.

 

Years into the marriage, Ada grows uneasy about Hereward’s intense private time with her own sister Emmeline and has her banished from the household. The couple raise three sons - Reuben, Merton, and Salomon - while Hereward continues to dominate the family with effortless authority. When middle son Merton becomes engaged to Hetty, Hereward warmly welcomes her as the daughter he always wanted. After Hetty falls pregnant by another man, Hereward and Ada secretly arrange for her to have the child, adopt the boy (Henry), and pass him off as their own grandchild so Merton can still marry her.

 

Four years later, the boys begin to suspect that Henry is actually Hereward’s son by Hetty. History repeats when eldest son Reuben brings home his fiancée Trissie. Hereward once again shows marked warmth toward the new daughter-in-law. Reuben confronts his father publicly, accusing him of seducing Trissie just as he had seduced Hetty. When Hetty confirms Henry’s true paternity, the family erupts in shock and outrage. Merton threatens to cut ties, but financial dependence and habit eventually force a grudging return to the status quo.

 

Ada then reintroduces her long-exiled sister Emmeline, now middle-aged and accompanied by her 22-year-old adopted daughter Viola. Viola charms the household, especially Hereward and young Henry. Salomon falls in love with her, but grows alarmed by her frequent private time with his father. When he confronts Hereward, his father calmly reveals that Viola is his own illegitimate daughter by Emmeline - conceived during the earlier affair that led to Emmeline’s banishment.

 

The family absorbs this latest bombshell with weary acceptance, deciding “it is nothing new” and choosing to carry on as before. Only old Sir Michael cannot stomach the entrenched amorality at the heart of the house. Later, Hereward’s lingering connection to Rosa is exposed when Ada discovers he has been secretly maintaining her in a cottage on the estate for their entire marriage. Faced with the full extent of his lifelong deceptions, Ada and the sons concede that Hereward’s colossal flaws are inseparable from his commanding presence. The family settles back into its familiar, compromised orbit.