William Trevor

Wealthy widow Norah ONeill wonders if she will ever marry again. When her son decides to close the familys failing toy factory, the manager, a decent man who dances the quickstep beautifully, becomes unemployed. Suddenly, Norah sees her chance for happiness, in a new venture of her own.

'No matter what,' Julia had said, aware then of what was coming, 'let's always play cards.' And they did; for even with her memory gone, a little more of it each day — her children taken, her house, her flowerbeds, belongings, clothes — their games in the communal drawing room were a reality her affliction allowed. A husband sits in Harry's Bar in Venice, thinking of his wife — lost to him now — whose plea has brought him back to one of their favourite haunts. On another table, a young couple quarrel. 'Cheating at Canasta' is the title story of William Trevor's new collection, his first since the highly acclaimed A Bit on the Side (2004), and its themes of missed opportunities, the inevitability of change and the powerful but fragmentary quality of our memories are entirely characteristic of his unparalleled oeuvre.

William Trevor's The Children of Dynmouth was first published in 1976. In it we follow awkward, lonely, curious teenager Timothy Gedge as he wanders around the bland south-coast seaside town of Dynmouth. Timothy takes a prurient interest in the lives of the adults there, who only realize the sinister purpose to which he seeks to put his knowledge too late. This brilliant novel is eerily prescient as it shows a young person's obsession with fame and his capacity for evil.

Youre beautiful, Johnny told her. So, full of hope, seventeen-year-old Felicia crosses the Irish Sea to England to find her lover and tell him she is pregnant. Desperately searching for Johnny in the bleak post-industrial Midlands, she is instead found by Mr Hilditch, a strange and lonely man, a collector and befriender of homeless young girls.

An Irish country girl is trapped in a loveless marriage with an older man, but finds release through secret meetings with a man who shares her passion for Russian novels.

It is summer and a stranger has come to quiet Rathmoye. He is noticed by Ellie, the young convent girl, who is married to Dillahan, a farmer still mourning his first wife. Over the long and warm days, Ellie and the stranger form an illicit attachment. And those in the town can only watch, holding their tongues, as passion, love and fate take their inevitable course.

The story of a frustrated romance between a young, married ex-convent girl and a visiting stranger in a small Irish town over one long summer.

William Trevor is an undisputed master of the short story but, perhaps, less known for his novels. Felicias Journey, which follows the journey of a young, innocent girl from rural Ireland to Birmingham, is bursting with understated mood and atmosphere. Perfectly crafted and wonderfully cinematic (you may have seen director Atom Egoyans recent screen adaptation starring Bob Hoskins) it screams with a sinister undercurrent of menace; there are few writers who say so much so quietly. 'You're beautiful', Johnny told her and so, full of hope seventeen-year-old Felicia crosses the Irish Sea to England to find her lover and tell him she is pregnant. Searching desperately for Johnny, she is, instead, found by Mr Hilditch, pudgy canteen catering manager, collector and befriender of homeless young girls.

Summer, 1921. Eight-year-old Lucy Gault clings to glens and woods above Lahardane - the home her family is being forced to abandon. She knows Gaults are no longer welcome in Ireland and that danger threatens. Lucy, however, is headstrong and decides that somehow she must force her parents into staying. But the path she chooses ends in disaster.

Jaraby expects to get the job, but he reckons without the bitterness of Nox, who still remembers the humiliations of his school years. And when Jarabys son gets into trouble with the law, Nox has the

Paddy Old, el hombre más viejo de Tipperany, se ganÛ siempre la vida recorriendo el país y contando historias.A Juliet le encantaba escucharle: ´El marinero y la rataª, ´La rata que era un hadaª, ´El

Features the awkward, lonely, curious teenager Timothy Gedge as he wanders around the bland seaside town of Dynmouth. Timothy takes a prurient interest in the lives of the adults there, who only realise the sinister purpose to which he seeks to put his knowledge too late.