The Story of Lucy Gault (Hardcover)

The book opens in County Cork in 1921 with the eponymous Lucy as a small girl oblivious to the changes sweeping across Ireland. The Gaults are a Protestant land-owning family: Lucy's father, Captain Everard, was an officer in the British Army and her mother Heliose is English. When three local lads attempt to set fire to their ancestral home Lahardane (a country house in the vein of Elizabeth Bowen's Bowen's Court) Everard shoots and wounds one of the intruders, Horahan. The shot proves to have disastrous and reverberating consequences for the family: consequences that might appear melodramatic if Trevor didn't unfurl them with such subtlety and poise.

Everard and Heloise opt to leave Ireland but just before they are about to depart Lucy runs away. Convinced that she has drowned, the Gaults reluctantly head off into exile. Lucy is discovered alive but attempts to contact her kin fail. As her parents mournfully journey across Europe, Lucy, raised by two faithful servants, whiles away the years reading and waiting for their return. Her isolated existence at Lahardane is finally broken when Ralph, a young teacher, accidentally stumbles upon the house. Slowly, a romance blossoms, although Lucy, plagued by guilt and the ghosts of the past, is simply unable to grasp this chance of happiness. She does eventually find a kind of redemption (kept tantalisingly until the final chapters) but her tale, told with extraordinary beauty, compassion and precision, is ultimately one of endless disappointments. --Travis Elborough

Review
William Trevor has written many award-winning novels, and this latest one, shortlisted for the 2002 Booker Prize, can only serve to enhance his already considerable reputation. A masterpiece of restrained narrative yet profoundly moving, this is a book in which tragedy is delicately explored without ever descending into sentimentality. The Gaults have lived in Ireland for generations, and have been cultivating the estate at Lahardane since the 18th century. In an Ireland beset by insurrectionist troubles immediately after the First World War, Captain Gault finds himself the target of a trio of local lads determined to drive him and his English wife out of Ireland. After a shooting incident involving one of the boys, the Gaults decide to cut their losses and leave their beloved home, not only for their own sakes but also to protect their nine-year-old daughter Lucy. But Lucy is passionately attached to Lahardane and runs away the night before they are due to leave. A cruel series of circumstances leads the Gaults into assuming she has drowned - overcome by grief, they eventually leave for a life of extended exile in Europe. But Lucy is discovered shortly after the Gaults' departure, and all attempts to track down her absent parents prove futile. The years pass, as Lucy grieves alone; she draws further into herself, allowing no one apart from the family servants to come close to her. The possibility of love presents itself, but Lucy is unable to cast off her single-minded devotion to her long-lost parents; silent and alone she awaits their return. Her patience is eventually rewarded, but Lucy must confront bereavement and learns that the intervening years have changed everybody. Despite the failure of her relationship with the love-struck Ralph, she forges another intense bond, this time with the man who tried to kill her father. A reconciliation of sorts is achieved and Lucy can face her final years at peace with herself. William Trevor excels at this tender dissection of the most sensitive human emotions - eloquent yet understated, Trevor's lyrical prose and beautifully restrained story-telling combine to create a story of unforgettable intensity. (Kirkus UK)

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