Elizabeth Alone by William Trevor - a powerful and moving novel from one of the world's finest writers

After nineteen years of marriage, three children and a brief but passionate affair followed by a quick divorce, Elizabeth Aidallbery has to go to hospital for an emergency operation. From her hospital bed she has the leisure to take stock of her life, and frankly it doesn't look very edifying: there's the 17 year old daughter who's run off to a commune with her boyfriend; an old hopeless suitor who continues to press his claims; and of course the memory of the havoc she caused by the affair.

No doubt she could put her life back in order. But need that involve all those people who cause her so much heartache?

Readers of Love and Summer and Felicia's Journey will be delighted by Elizabeth Alone. It will also be enjoyed by readers of Colm Toibin and William Boyd.

'A finely observed, gently sensitive comedy, delightful to read' Daily Telegraph

'Trevor is a master of both language and storytelling' Hilary Mantel


William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, in 1928, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He has lived in England for many years. The author of numerous acclaimed collections of short stories and novels, he has won many awards including the Whitbread Book of the Year, The James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. He has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize: in 1976 with his novel The Children of Dynmouth, in 1991 with Reading Turgenev and in 2002 with The Story of Lucy Gault. He recently received the prestigious David Cohen Literature Prize in recognition of a lifetime's literary achievement.

'She saw her life as something that was scattered untidily about, without a pattern, without rhyme or reason'


About the Author
William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork. He has written many novels, and has won many prizes including the Hawthornden Prize, the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Award, and the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. His most recent novel Love and Summer was longlisted for the Booker Prize. He is also a renowned writer of short stories, and his two-volume Collected Stories was published by Viking Penguin in 2009. In 1999 William Trevor received the prestigious David Cohen Literature Prize in recognition of a lifetime's literary achievement, and in 2002 he was knighted for his services to literature.


Book Information
ISBN 9780241969458
Author William Trevor
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 223g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 19mm