Darkness Falls is the second book in the `Brushstrokes' trilogy, which sees Charles and Marie go from the joy of their daughter's birth, to despair during the Franco-Prussian war. A desperate story of survival, honour and allegiance. Will love prevail? Charles takes his wife and their young daughter to Lille, to be near to his family, unwittingly placing her in greater danger as the Prussian army enters France via Belgium - a decision that will haunt him forever. Alongside fearing for his loved ones' safety, Charles must devise a plan to protect Paris' great works of art, alongside Manet, Courbet and Monet. When Marie and her daughter are captured by a German officer, she is forced to play a dangerous game to keep him at bay, unsure as to whether Charles is dead or alive. Her brother Henri, meanwhile, is chosen by Napoleon III to accompany him as a prisoner to Versailles.