Elizabeth Alone

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.