William Trevor (1928–2016)

These ten stories are at once poignant and atmospheric. I'll need, I think, to re-read them. There are revelations, flashbacks, guarded comments which bring about an understanding of character, circumstance. And which also leave the reader wondering - what REALLY happened? Did that middle-aged woman really murder her disabled cousin? Or ...?

There's something of the formula about these stories, which all contain an unexpected twist. But Trevor's fastidious use of language keeps each story on its own track: yet it's not always certain exactly what took place, or when, or how. Each character remains in many ways unknowable.

And that's why I want to read these stories again. I'm sure they'll set me thinking just as much as they did first time round.… (more)

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”

Not William Trevor at his best, this short novel is still worth a read if you like his other books. Trevor’s prose is easy on the ear, and even at his most mediocre he manages to keep the reader interested.

There’s a garden, am old house, a loveless marriage and a death. The usual stuff and the usual mystery at the end. But it appears hastily done and lacks the depth of earlier Trevor novels.

I recommend this book for readers who enjoy Trevor’s writings, but it’s not for those experiencing a Trevor novel for the first time.… (more)

The Farmer Takes a Wife

Media: Audio
Read by: Jim Norton
Length: 5 hours 12 minutes

It’s summer in a small town in Ireland. There’s a chance meeting between a local lass and a young man on a bike. We know that these two, Ella and Florian have clicked. And then?

William Trevor builds up the cast chapter by chapter. We learn about the players, the farmer, the guesthouse proprietor and her husband, the salesman, the ex-librarian who has lost his mind. We learn about the town’s recent history and scandals. The farmer accidentally killed his first wife and child; the local cinema burned down, the guesthouse proprietor was forced by her father to have an abortion.

There are more chance encounters between Ella and Florian. These are fleeting until, amongst the ruins of an old manor house that is overrun with the sweet peas, peonies and lavender, a love blossoms.

Sounds clichéd at best, at worst a cheap Victorian “penny dreadful”. But it’s not. Trevor manages to weave a tale that brings to mind Thomas Hardy rather than Mills and Boon. Scenes are described in minute detail, so we can see every movement of the characters as they interact with each other and go about their daily tasks. From the farmer repairing a tyre tube to Ella folding her clothes ready for the next day, mundane details bring to life a world we are experiencing as we read on. A Vermeer in words.

I tottered between a 3.5 and a 4 for rating, as the book is slight in content and in length. Not an important book. Not a seminal Trevor work, so perhaps a 3.5? I gave it a 4. Love and Summer epitomizes everything that is exquisite about William Trevor’s books. He brings to life moments in time and builds up a world that we can enter, lavender and all.… (more)

William Trevor’s stories are mosaics. They explore the actions, opinions and deeply ingrained views of people; the elderly, Irish, English, victims and perpetrators of The Troubles, those affected by war, the mad.

In the title story an illicit affairs smolders, gets hot, then sputters to an unsatisfying end over a number of years. War takes a toll on those at home in Matilda’s England, as Matilda grows from a young girl to middle-age and discovers her own cruelty that’s a reflection of the cruelty of war itself. In Torridge, an object of ridicule at an all-boy’s school gets revenge of sorts decades later.

Trevor depicts moral quandaries, and often the wrong choice has been made. In Death in Jerusalem a priest delays telling his brother about the death of their mother during a once in a lifetime trip to the Holy Land in an effort to not cut the trip short.

A strong collection of some of Trevor’s finest.… (more)