After Rain

Twelve short stories about the revenge of love and indifference include tales about a gay man's resentment toward his parents, two children of divorce who mimic their parents, and the second wife of a blind piano tuner who distorts his memories of his first wife. Reprint.
? Chosen by the editors of The New York Times Book Review as one of the eight best books of 1996, and by the Boston Globe as one of the six best books of fiction of 1996 ? Appeared on several bestseller lists, including The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, New York Newsday, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Village Voice Literary Supplement ? William Trevor was the recipient of a 1996 Lannan Literary Award for fiction ? Felicia?s Journey, William Trevor?s previous national bestseller, won England?s prestigious Whitbread Fiction Prize and the Sunday Express Prize. ? American Library Association Notable Book William Trevor has long been hailed as one of the greatest living writers of the short story. In this collection of twelve dazzling, acutely rendered tales, he once again plumbs the depths of the human heart. Here we meet a blind piano tuner whose wonderful memories of his first wife are cruelly distorted by his second; a woman in a difficult marriage who must chose between her indignant husband and her closest friend; two children, survivors of divorce, who mimic their parents? melodramas; a heartbroken woman traveling alone in Italy who experiences an epiphany studying a forgotten artist?s Annunciation. Trevor is, in his own words, ?a storyteller. My fiction may, now and again, illuminate aspects of the human condition, but I do not consciously set out to do so.? Conscious or not, he touches us in ways that few writers even dare to try.
After Rain - Twelve remarkable stories by the master storyteller William Trevor 'There is no better short story writer in the English-speaking world' Wall Street Journal In this collection of twelve dazzling, acutely rendered tales, William Trevor plumbs the depths of the human heart. Here we encounter a blind piano tuner whose wonderful memories of his first wife are cruelly distorted by his second; a woman in a difficult marriage who must choose between her indignant husband and her closest friend; two children, survivors of divorce, who mimic their parents' melodramas; and a heartbroken woman traveling alone in Italy who experiences an epiphany while studying a forgotten artist's Annunciation. Trevor is, in his own words, 'a storyteller. My fiction may, now and again, illuminate aspects of the human condition, but I do not consciously set out to do so.' Conscious or not, he touches us in ways that few writers even dare to try. If you enjoyed The Story of Lucy Gault and Love and Summer, you will love this book. It will also be adored by readers of Colm Toibin, George Saunders and James Joyce. William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork. He has written eighteen novels and novellas, and hundreds of short stories, for which he has won a number of prizes including the Hawthornden Prize, the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the David Cohen Literature Prize in recognition of a lifetime's literary achievement. In 2002 he was knighted for his services to literature. His books in Penguin are: After Rain; A Bit on the Side; Bodily Secrets; Cheating at Canasta; The Children of Dynmouth; The Collected Stories (Volumes One and Two); Death in Summer; Felicia's Journey; Fools of Fortune; The Hill Bachelors; Love and Summer; The Mark-2 Wife; Selected Stories; The Story of Lucy Gault and Two Lives.