Love and Summer: A Novel
1 journaler for this copy...
Love and Summer is very short, but you will definitely find yourself thinking about it after you've finished it.
The book is set in a small Irish town called Rathmoye, and the action takes place in one summer, when a stranger, Florian Kilderry, comes to town and catches the eye of a local woman, Ellie Dillahan. Ellie was raised by nuns, and sent to her husband's farm as a housekeeper when she was old enough to go to work. Dillahan suffered an incredible tragedy; then later, married Ellie more for the sake of having someone around to help him on the farm. Kilderry has lived in the shadow of his parents' greatness all of his life, and with their deaths, has decided to leave Ireland for good to start a new life. Ellie and Florian begin a love affair, and Ellie begins planning for a new life as well. But alas.
Love and Summer is a novel about love and pain; it is also a story about loneliness and loss. It is told in a very muted and understated tone, and one of the joys of this novel is the author's ability to deliver mundane details about life in a small town without it ever becoming boring. His characterizations are excellent -- there's Miss Connulty, who runs a B&B with her brother and who understands firsthand Ellie's predicament; there's Orpen Wren, who served as the keeper of a family library on an estate which has long since burned to the ground, and who has seen enough in his lifetime to make him become a bit unhinged, and there's Dillihan, the farmer and Ellie's husband, who remains largely mute about his own tragedy. The lives of these characters tend to parallel the main story, each in their own way, and reflect a great deal of the emotional turmoil of the main characters.
Love and Summer is a fine novel, and continues Trevor's tradition of excellence in writing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has previously read anything by this author. At the end of the day, it becomes much more than a story about love and loss -- and it is well worth reading for the author's understanding of the frailty of human relationships.
The book is set in a small Irish town called Rathmoye, and the action takes place in one summer, when a stranger, Florian Kilderry, comes to town and catches the eye of a local woman, Ellie Dillahan. Ellie was raised by nuns, and sent to her husband's farm as a housekeeper when she was old enough to go to work. Dillahan suffered an incredible tragedy; then later, married Ellie more for the sake of having someone around to help him on the farm. Kilderry has lived in the shadow of his parents' greatness all of his life, and with their deaths, has decided to leave Ireland for good to start a new life. Ellie and Florian begin a love affair, and Ellie begins planning for a new life as well. But alas.
Love and Summer is a novel about love and pain; it is also a story about loneliness and loss. It is told in a very muted and understated tone, and one of the joys of this novel is the author's ability to deliver mundane details about life in a small town without it ever becoming boring. His characterizations are excellent -- there's Miss Connulty, who runs a B&B with her brother and who understands firsthand Ellie's predicament; there's Orpen Wren, who served as the keeper of a family library on an estate which has long since burned to the ground, and who has seen enough in his lifetime to make him become a bit unhinged, and there's Dillihan, the farmer and Ellie's husband, who remains largely mute about his own tragedy. The lives of these characters tend to parallel the main story, each in their own way, and reflect a great deal of the emotional turmoil of the main characters.
Love and Summer is a fine novel, and continues Trevor's tradition of excellence in writing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has previously read anything by this author. At the end of the day, it becomes much more than a story about love and loss -- and it is well worth reading for the author's understanding of the frailty of human relationships.
