It is in the sleepy town of Rathmoye and the surrounding Irish countryside that William Trevor sets his latest novel, Love and Summer. This is familiar territory for this novelist in his eighty-first year, whose writing career spans over 50 years. I know him best from his wonderful short stories, owning a copy of that great, big, orange-spined collection. They are outstanding. Love and Summer, too, is a very fine work.

Those familiar with Trevor will recognise that belied simplicity and narrative mastery that allows him to dip into his characters’ pasts, fantasies and dreams, while never leaving his reader behind. Ellie, a foundling raised in an orphanage in a nearby county, shares her life on a small farm with her husband Dillahan, a man haunted by tragedy. She has always been under the care of others and it isn’t until she meets the enigmatic stranger, Florian Kilderry, that she begins making some choices of her own.

Love and Summer is set some time in the 1950s and its characters like to keep their dramas small. Trevor is always respectful of this, crafting a novel beautiful in its subtleties. Highly recommended.