ISBN: 0141010436
(9780141010434)
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Description:
Captain Gault has decided that his family must leave Lahardane. They are after all Protestants living in the big house in rural Cork, and the country is in turmoil. It is 1921. But 8-year-old Lucy can't bear to leave the seashore, the old house, the woods - so she hatches a plan. It is then that the calamity happens - an accident almost, but so vicious in its consequences that it blights the lives of the Gaults for years to come. Trevor's new novel beautifully evokes rural Ireland and the tensions existing there, but also is Hardy-like in its portrayal of the impact of mere chance on a life.
Review:
William Trevor has written many award-winning novels, and this latest one, shortlisted for the 2002 Booker Prize, can only serve to enhance his already considerable reputation. A masterpiece of restrained narrative yet profoundly moving, this is a book in which tragedy is delicately explored without ever descending into sentimentality. The Gaults have lived in Ireland for generations, and have been cultivating the estate at Lahardane since the 18th century. In an Ireland beset by insurrectionist troubles immediately after the First World War, Captain Gault finds himself the target of a trio of local lads determined to drive him and his English wife out of Ireland. After a shooting incident involving one of the boys, the Gaults decide to cut their losses and leave their beloved home, not only for their own sakes but also to protect their nine-year-old daughter Lucy. But Lucy is passionately attached to Lahardane and runs away the night before they are due to leave. A cruel series of circumstances leads the Gaults into assuming she has drowned - overcome by grief, they eventually leave for a life of extended exile in Europe. But Lucy is discovered shortly after the Gaults' departure, and all attempts to track down her absent parents prove futile. The years pass, as Lucy grieves alone; she draws further into herself, allowing no one apart from the family servants to come close to her. The possibility of love presents itself, but Lucy is unable to cast off her single-minded devotion to her long-lost parents; silent and alone she awaits their return. Her patience is eventually rewarded, but Lucy must confront bereavement and learns that the intervening years have changed everybody. Despite the failure of her relationship with the love-struck Ralph, she forges another intense bond, this time with the man who tried to kill her father. A reconciliation of sorts is achieved and Lucy can face her final years at peace with herself. William Trevor excels at this tender dissection of the most sensitive human emotions - eloquent yet understated, Trevor's lyrical prose and beautifully restrained story-telling combine to create a story of unforgettable intensity. (Kirkus UK)
Author's biography:
William Trevor was born in County Cork in 1928. He is widely regarded as our greatest living short-story writer, and his novels have won many awards. He has won the Whitbread Fiction Prize 3 times (most recently for FELICIA'S JOURNEY), and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize 3 times. In 1999 he was awarded the David Cohen British Literature Prize. In 2002 he was awarded an honourary knighthood. He lives in Devon.
In stock: 29 copies
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