Synopses & Reviews
Review
"With the publication of this grand volume of stories—five complete collections, two of which are appearing in print for the first time in this country—Trevor, a native Irishman now living in England, ought finally to receive here the attention disgracefully overdue him. These stories prove Trevor to be one of the most distinguished and prolific prose writers currently writing in English. An awareness of the past permeates his work, particularly his later stories. That his characters' struggles often reflect Ireland's troubled history never distracts from but rather deepens those characters and their ordeals. Nearly 800 pages of important short fiction, this volume is a rare prize." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
A collection of short stories from celebrated author William Trevor in which he shines a light on the day-to-day life of Ireland and its citizens
From his debut collection, The Day We Got Drunk on Cake, published in 1968, to Family Sins (1990), William Trevor has crafted the short story to perfection, giving us brilliant and subtle stories full of the reversals, surprises, and shadowy truths we discover in life itself. To read this volume is not just to encounter an extraordinary literary stylist, but to understand life as surely as though we were looking through the eyes of his protagonists and deeper still into their hearts.
William Trevor: The Collected Stories includes the tales from his seven previous books, as well as four stories that have never appeared in book form in America. They depict the comforts and frustrations of life in rural Ireland, the complexities of family relationships, and the elusive grace of love. They portray the almost invisible strands that bind people to each other as well as the chains that imprison them in solitary yearning."
Synopsis
A collection of short stories from celebrated author William Trevor in which he shines a light on the day-to-day life of Ireland and its citizens.
William Trevor's Last Stories is forthcoming from Viking. From his debut collection, "The Day We Got Drunk on Cake," published in 1968, to "Family Sins" (1990), William Trevor has crafted the short story to perfection, giving us brilliant and subtle stories full of the reversals, surprises, and shadowy truths we discover in life itself. To read this volume is not just to encounter an extraordinary literary stylist, but to understand life as surely as though we were looking through the eyes of his protagonists and--deeper still--into their hearts.
William Trevor: The Collected Stories includes the tales from his seven previous books, as well as four stories that have never appeared in book form in America. They depict the comforts and frustrations of life in rural Ireland, the complexities of family relationships, and the elusive grace of love. They portray the almost invisible strands that bind people to each other as well as the chains that imprison them in solitary yearning.
Synopsis
The Collected Stories - a stunning volume of William Trevor's unforgettable short stories
William Trevor is one of the most renowned figures in contemporary literature, described as 'the greatest living writer of short stories in the English language' by the New Yorker and acclaimed for his haunting and profound insights into the human heart. Here is a collection of his short fiction, with dozens of tales spanning his career and ranging from the moving to the macabre, the humorous to the haunting. From the penetrating 'Memories of Youghal' to the bittersweet 'Bodily Secrets' and the elegiac 'Two More Gallants', here are masterpieces of insight, depth, drama and humanity, acutely rendered by a modern master.
'A textbook for anyone who ever wanted to write a story, and a treasure for anyone who loves to read them' Madison Smartt Bell
'Extraordinary... Mr. Trevor's sheer intensity of entry into the lives of his people...proceeds to uncover new layers of yearning and pain, new angles of vision and credible thought' The New York Times Book Review
About the Author
William Trevor is the author of twenty-nine books, including Felicia’s Journey, which won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and was made into a motion picture. In 1996 he was the recipient of the Lannan Award for Fiction. In 2001, he won the Irish Times Literature Prize for fiction. Two of his books were chosen by The New York Times as best books of the year, and his short stories appear regularly in the New Yorker. In 1997, he was named Honorary Commander of the British Empire. He lives in Devon, England.
Table of Contents
A Meeting in Middle Age
Access to the Children
The General's Day
Memories of Youghal
The Table
A School Story
The Penthouse Apartment
In at the Birth
The Introspections of J. P. Powers
The Day We Got Drunk on Cake
Miss Smith
The Hotel of the Idle Moon
Nice Day at School
The Original Sins of Edward Tripp
The Forty-seventh Saturday
The Ballroom of Romance
A Happy Family
The Grass Widows
The Mark-2 Wife
An Evening with John Joe Dempsey
Kinkies
Going Home
A Choice of Butchers
O Fat White Woman
Raymond Bamber and Mrs. Fitch
The Distant Past
In Isfahan
Angels at the Ritz
The Death of Peggy Meehan
Mrs. Silly
A Complicated Nature
Teresa's Wedding
Office Romances
Mr. McNamara
Afternoon Dancing
Last Wishes
Mrs. Acland's Ghosts
Another Christmas
Broken Homes
Matilda's England: 1. The Tennis Court; 2. The Summer-house; 3. The Drawing-room
Torridge
Death in Jerusalem
Lovers of Their Time
The Raising of Elvira Tremlett
Flights of Fancy
Attracta
A Dream of Butterflies
The Bedroom Eyes of Mrs. Vansittart
Downstairs at Fitzgerald's
Mulvihill's Memorial
Beyond the Pale
The Blue Dress
The Teddy-bears' Picnic
The Time of Year
Being Stolen From
Mr Tennyson
Autumn Sunshine
Sunday Drinks
The Paradise Lounge
Mags
The News from Ireland
On the Zattere
The Wedding in the Garden
Lunch in Winter
The Property of Colette Nervi
Running Away
Cocktails at Doney's
Her Mother's Daughter
Bodily Secrets
Two More Gallants
The Smoke Trees of San Pietro
Virgins
Music
Events at Drimaghleen
Family Sins
A Trinity
The Third Party
Honeymoon in Tramore
The Printmaker
In Love with Ariadne
A Husband's Return
Coffee with Oliver
August Saturday
Children of the Headmaster
Kathleen's Field
Acknowledgments