Adult Book of the Month
Love
and Summer by William Trevor
Published by Viking in 2009
It is summer in the sleepy rural town of Rathmoye where nothing much seems to happen. Eileen Connulty, the matriarch of one of the town’s most important families, has just died, leaving her bitter daughter and spoilt son to run her empire. Into town arrives a dark-haired stranger Florian Kilderry. Mrs Connulty's daughter, liberated at last by the death of her imperious mother, resolves to keep an eye on Florian Kilderry. Miss Connulty, herself damaged by an affair with a married man, comes to witness the developing affair between Florian and Ellie Dillahan, a farmer’s wife. Ellie, a foundling brought up by nuns and delivered as a housekeeper and later wife to the local farmer, falls in love with Florian and though he plans to leave Ireland, a dangerously reckless attachment develops between them. 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.
‘Love and Summer is exactly what you would expect from the master of quiet, Irish brooding. It lingers in the memory as a beautiful meditation on love, belonging and the impossibility of escape’ Melissa Katsoulis The Observer
‘I was totally entranced ... a rare book’ Ruth Scurr The Times
’I can't think of anything I've read recently that has chronicled more accurately the thumping chaos of human hearts or felt more questioning and youthful and alive’ Julie Myerson Financial Times
William Trevor was born in Michelstown, County Cork and
now lives in Devon. He is the author of more than 40 works, including
novels, short story collections and plays.
Love and Summer was longlisted for the 2009 Man Booker Prize.
He was awarded the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award in Irish Literature
in 2008.
