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.
SHORTLIST IMPAC Dublin Award
"Trevor is at the top of his game, and his game is better than anyone else's." - The Boston Globe
"This new novel... is a delicate sort of drama ... but even so, a reader will have his heart in his mouth for the last 50 pages. And when that heart settles back down, it will be broken and satisfied...“Love and Summer,” the latest item from his venerable suitcase, is a thrilling work of art." - The New York Times Book Review
"A subtle, surprising, sometimes agonizing tale of young love and passion." - Julie Myerson
"Lingers in the memory as a beautiful meditation on love, belonging and the impossibility of escape" - Observer (London)
"Unbearably moving" - Spectator (London)
"A portrait of a brackish rural backwater, complete with family tragedy, sexual scandal, a repressed spinster and a half-crazed ancient retainer . . . delicate, elegiac, written with all Trevor's trademark compassion and understanding'" - Daily Mail (London)
"A series of wrenching human dramas, which Trevor depicts with kindness and beautiful delicacy" - Sunday Telegraph (London)
"Brilliant. Trevor is the ultimate Old Master'." - Evening Standard (London)
'"A flawless work of art." Independent on Sunday (London)
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.
Awards
SHORTLIST IMPAC Dublin Award
Praise
"Trevor is at the top of his game, and his game is better than anyone else's." - The Boston Globe
"This new novel... is a delicate sort of drama ... but even so, a reader will have his heart in his mouth for the last 50 pages. And when that heart settles back down, it will be broken and satisfied...“Love and Summer,” the latest item from his venerable suitcase, is a thrilling work of art." - The New York Times Book Review
"A subtle, surprising, sometimes agonizing tale of young love and passion." - Julie Myerson
"Lingers in the memory as a beautiful meditation on love, belonging and the impossibility of escape" - Observer (London)
"Unbearably moving" - Spectator (London)
"A portrait of a brackish rural backwater, complete with family tragedy, sexual scandal, a repressed spinster and a half-crazed ancient retainer . . . delicate, elegiac, written with all Trevor's trademark compassion and understanding'" - Daily Mail (London)
"A series of wrenching human dramas, which Trevor depicts with kindness and beautiful delicacy" - Sunday Telegraph (London)
"Brilliant. Trevor is the ultimate Old Master'." - Evening Standard (London)
'"A flawless work of art." Independent on Sunday (London)
