The cloven foot : $b A novel

A lone night train rattles through a snow‑blanketed countryside, carrying John Treverton toward a remote Devonshire village where his estranged kinsman lies on his death‑bed. With a dwindling fortune and a reputation for charm rather than principle, John hopes the bequest will rescue him from a decade of reckless living. Yet the old man has recently adopted a mysterious young woman, and John’s cynical mind already weaves doubts that she may outmaneuver him for the inheritance.

The journey forces him to confront his own restless ambition and a past littered with wasted commissions and broken promises. As the train pulls into a quiet, rustic station, the atmosphere bristles with the promise of hidden motives and uneasy alliances. Listeners will be drawn into John’s internal struggle and the looming question of whether the promised legacy will ever be his—or merely a pawn in a larger, more secretive game.