"One of the very best writers of our era." (The Washington Post Book World)

His first collection since the bestselling After Rain, William Trevor's The Hill Bachelors is a heartbreaking book about men and women and their missed opportunities: four people live in a suburban house, frozen in a conspiracy of silence that prevents love's consummation; a nine-year-old dreams that a part in a movie will heal her fragmented family life; a brother and sister forge a new life amid the chaos of Ireland after the Rebellion; and in the title story, a young man chooses between his longtime love and a life of solitude on the family farm. These beautifully rendered tales reveal Trevor's compassion for the human condition and confirm once again his position as one of the premier writers of the short story....

Chosen by the editors of The New York Times Book Review as one of the eight best books of 1996, After Rain presents a collection of twelve dazzling, acutely rendered stories that plumb the depths of the human heart. "Short fiction at its finest."--San Francisco Chronicle....

William Trevor is truly a Chekhov for our age, and a new collection of stories from him is always a cause for celebration. In these twelve stories, a waiter divulges a shocking life of crime to his ex-wife; a woman repeats the story of her parents’ unstable marriage after a horrible tragedy; a schoolgirl regrets gossiping about the cuckolded man who tutors her; and, in the volume’s title story, a middle-aged accountant offers his reasons for ending a love affair. At the heart of this stunning collection is Trevor’s characteristic tenderness and unflinching eye for both the humanizing and dehumanizing aspects of modern urban and rural life....

Penguin Classics is proud to welcome William Trevor—"Ireland’s answer to Chekhov" (The Boston Globe) and "one of the best writers of our era" (The Washington Post)—to our distinguished list of literary masters. In this award-winning novel, an informer’s body is found on the estate of a wealthy Irish family shortly after the First World War, and an appalling cycle of revenge is set in motion. Led by a zealous sergeant, the Black and Tans set fire to the family home, and only young Willie and his mother escape alive. Fatherless, Willie grows into manhood while his alcoholic mother’s bitter resentment festers. And though he finds love, Willie is unable to leave the terrible injuries of the past behind....

A new collection from “the greatest living writer of short stories in the English language” (The New Yorker)

The publication of a new book by William Trevor is a true literary event. One of our finest chroniclers of the human condition, Trevor’s precise and unflinching insights into the lives of ordinary people are evidenced once again in this stunning collection of twelve stories. Subtle yet powerful, these exquisitely nuanced tales of regret, deception, adultery, aging, and forgiveness are a rare pleasure, and they confirm Trevor’s reputation as a master of the form. From a chance encounter between two childhood friends to memories of a newly widowed man to a family grappling with the sale of ancestral land, Trevor examines with grace and skill the tenuous bonds of our relationships, the strengths that hold us together, and the truths that threaten to separate us....

Young, pregnant, unmarried, and penniless, Felicia leaves her Irish hometown to search for her boyfriend in the English Midlands, only to fall in with the obese, fiftyish Mr. Hilditch, in a tale of psychological suspense. Reprint. Winner of the Whitbread Fiction & Sunday Express Prizes. NYT. ...

It's summer and nothing much is happening in Rathmoye. So it doesn't go unnoticed when a dark-haired stranger appears on his bicycle and begins photographing the mourners at Mrs. Connulty's funeral. Florian Kilderry couldn't know that the Connultys are said to own half the town: he has only come to Rathmoye to photograph the scorched remains of its burnt- out cinema.

A few miles out in the country, Dillahan, a farmer and a decent man, has married again: Ellie is the young convent girl who came to work for him when he was widowed. Ellie leads a quiet, routine life, often alone while Dillahan runs the farm.

Florian is planning to leave Ireland and start over. Ellie is settled in her new role as Dillahan's wife. But Florian's visit to Rathmoye introduces him to Ellie, and a dangerously reckless attachment begins.

In a characteristically masterly way Trevor evokes the passions and frustrations felt by Ellie and Florian, and by the people of a small Irish town during one long summer.

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When an informer's body is found shortly after the First World War on the estate of the Quintons, a wealthy Irish family, an appalling cycle of revenge is set in motion. Led by a zealous sergeant, the Black and Tans fire the family home, and only young Willie and his mother Evie escape alive. Fatherless, Willie grows into manhood while his alcoholic mother's bitter resentment festers. And though he finds love, Willie, too, seems unable to forget the terrible injuries of the past..."Fools of Fortune" won the Whitbread Novel of the Year award and was described in the "Washington Post" as, 'Arresting, powerful and indelible. A story of courage and love...as tender and wistful as an Irish lament'....