Synopses & Reviews
Two Lives offers two superb novels in one volume . . . as rich and moving as anything I have read in years. . . . Marvelous.” The Guardian Presented here are two unforgettable short novels by acclaimed author William Trevor, both of which focus on women who retreat into their imaginations until the boundaries between what is real and what is not become blurred.
In Reading Turgenev, an Irish country girl is trapped in a loveless marriage with an older man, but she finds release in secret meetings with a man who shares her passion for Russian novels. This novella was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
The second novella, My House in Umbria, tells how romantic novelist Emily Delahunty helps the survivors of a bomb attack on a train by inventing colorful pasts for her patients.
A sensibility reigns here which is at once inquisitive and loving. . . . Trevors is among the most subtle and sophisticated fiction being written today.” John Banville, The New York Review of Books
A writer at the peak of his powers; [Two Lives] reminds you what good reading is all about.” Anne Tyler, Chicago Sun Times
One of the most beautiful and memorable things Trevor has written.” The Independent on Sunday (U.K.)
Review
“
Two Lives offers two superb novels in one volume . . . as rich and moving as anything I have read in years. . . . Marvelous.” —
The Guardian “A sensibility reigns here which is at once inquisitive and loving. . . . Trevors is among the most subtle and sophisticated fiction being written today.” —John Banville, The New York Review of Books
“A writer at the peak of his powers; [Two Lives] reminds you what good reading is all about.” —Anne Tyler, Chicago Sun Times
“One of the most beautiful and memorable things Trevor has written.” —Hermione Lee, The Independent on Sunday (U.K.)
“These novels will endure. And in every beautiful sentence there is not a word out of place.” —Anita Brookner, The Spectator (U.K.)
“Trevors adroit playing-off of two worlds in each of the Two Lives—the sterile and the sublime—enables him to balance humor and heartbreak in perfect equilibrium.” —John Walsh, The Sunday Times (London)
“He writes like an angel, but is determined to wring your heart . . . Trevor at his most evocative and haunting.” —The Daily Mail (U.K.)
Synopsis
William Trevor's Last Stories is forthcoming from Viking. In Reading Turgenev, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, 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.
My House in Umbra tells of Emily Delahunty, a writer of romantic novels, who helps survivors of a bomb attack on a train to convalesce, inventing colorful pasts for her patients.
Two novels, two women who retreat further into the realm of the imagination until the boundaries between what is real and what is not become blurred.
Synopsis
Two Lives: Reading Turgenev & My House in Umbria - two novels by William Trevor
'Evocative and haunting. Trevor writes like an angel, but is determined to wring your heart' Daily Mail
'Marvellous, superb. As rich and moving as anything I have read in years. When I reach the end . . . I wanted to start right again at the beginning' Guardian
In Reading Turgenev 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.
My House in Umbria tells of Emily Delahunty, a writer of romantic novels, who helps the survivors of a bomb attack on a train to convalesce, inventing colourful pasts for her patients.
Two novels, two women who retreat further into the realm of the imagination until the boundaries between what is real and what is not become blurred . . .
'One of the most beautiful and memorable things Trevor has written' Independent on Sunday
Reading Turgenev was shortlisted for the Booker Prize
About the Author
William Trevor is the author of a number of books, including Felicias Journey, which won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and was made into a motion picture; The Story of Lucy Gault, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize; and the short-story collection Selected Stories, which was named a New York Times Book Review best book of the year. In 1999, Trevor received the prestigious David Cohen Literature Prize in recognition of a lifetime's literary achievement, and in 2002 he was knighted for his services to literature. He lives in Devon, England.