La storia di Lucy Gault

This is not a ghost story. But all the characters are haunted. Haunted by loved ones lost, by opportunities not seized, paths untrod, and lives not lived. A house where the only portrait is of “a distant ancestor whose identity had been unknown for as long as anyone of the present could remember” an Leggi tutto

I don’t usually binge on authors but I’ve enjoyed reading Trevor on and off since last November. This is my fifth, including Summer in the Garden, Love and Summer, Felicia’s Journey and The Children of Dynmouth. Like most of the other Trevors, the setting is a small, somewhat stifling, village in coa Leggi tutto

This finely crafted novel follows the life of Lucy Gault through childhood, young adulthood, middle age, and on into her elder years. When she was nine years old in 1921, she was confused by the decision her parents made to leave Ireland for a time due to the troubles and their fear of harm coming t Leggi tutto

This is a story made of harrowing what ifs . What if Ireland hadn’t been a divided country when Lucy Gault and her parents were leading an honest life in Lahardane? What if a child hadn’t made a home of the seashore and the leaden skies and rugged cliffs of the Irish coastline? A home she wasn’t ready Leggi tutto

3.5 stars “Disobedience had been a child’s defiance, deception the coinage they had offered her themselves.” Misunderstandings and miscommunications abound in human relationships. Perhaps even more so when one is dealing with a young child. A child senses something not quite right in his or her world, Leggi tutto

A mantle of melancholy settled over my shoulders as I was reading this.  Tormented souls, things left unsaid, abject loneliness, lives half-lived.  Beautifully written, it made my heart ache.

The four books of William Trevor's I've read were written respectively in 1991, 1994, 1996 and, this one, 2002 which means he was in his sixties or seventies and probably past his prime. And not surprisingly perhaps why he seems a writer completely out of step with the times in which he lived. He re Leggi tutto

"It is our tragedy in Ireland that for one reason or another we are repeatedly obliged to flee from what we hold dear. Our defeated patriots have gone, our great earls, our famine emigrants, and now the poor in search for work. Exile is part of us." This book is a perfect example of what has been ca Leggi tutto

Can a tragic life ever be a beautiful thing? It can when written by William Trevor. I am amazed that it has taken me so long to discover this author. I cannot really describe this novel because the series of events is equal parts unbelievable and yet inevitable. It is credible because the plot is so Leggi tutto

Beautifully written tale of Anglo-Irish family in 1920s Ireland and their daughter Lucy, filled with Irish fate and sadness but also with Irish resilience, forgiveness and wonderful language. A child's rebellious act changes the lives of everyone within her sphere of influence; it's what every child Leggi tutto