William Trevor

This is a collection of short stories about the everyday lives of some ordinary and some extraordinary people. Each story is brilliant in the imagery it created in my mind.

The titular story is about a woman to whom the magical time after a short spell of rain brings forth a revelation about herself. It is amazing in the way it made me live, for a few minutes in a hot, but
beautiful, small town in Italy: strolling its streets, sitting down for a cup of cappuccino in a cafe, getting to know the woman and a little about her life.

In another story, 'Gilbert's Mother', the fear and love that confront a mother, unable to reveal to the world the monster her son has become, is palpable without the author's explicit denouncement of the son's villainy.

The story of a wife who loses her husband of many years brought tears to my eyes in just the first few lines of 'Widows' and, as I read on, filled my heart with warmth.

These are just a few of the stories that ask to be read and re-read; to be savoured. The stories are mostly about normal people going through a transition in life that throws the rest of their lives, past and present, in relief. Each story brought alive a place, a group of people and the experience, as if I was there.

I have already started to read the stories again (this time in random order) and I will definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for an absorbing read.