Love and Summer (Penguin Essentials)

Love and Summer – a remarkable, heart-rending novel by acclaimed writer William Trevor

‘Lingers in the memory as a beautiful meditation on love, belonging and the impossibility of escape’ Observer

‘Unbearably moving’ Spectator

It is summer and a stranger has come to quiet Rathmoye. He is noticed by Ellie, the young convent girl, who is married to Dillahan, a farmer still mourning his first wife. Over the long and warm days, Ellie and the stranger form an illicit attachment. And those in the town can only watch, holding their tongues, as passion, love and fate take their inevitable course.

‘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

‘A series of wrenching human dramas, which Trevor depicts with kindness and beautiful delicacy’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Brilliant. Trevor is the ultimate Old Master’ Evening Standard

‘Beautiful. A flawless work of art’ Independent on Sunday