Two lives : reading Turgenev and my house in Umbria

Two Lives: Reading Turgenev & My House in Umbria - two novels by William Trevor 'Evocative and haunting. Trevor writes like an angel, but is determined to wring your heart' Daily Mail 'Marvellous, superb. As rich and moving as anything I have read in years. When I reach the end . . . I wanted to start right again at the beginning' Guardian In Reading Turgenev an Irish country girl is trapped in a loveless marriage with an older man, but finds release through secret meetings with a man who shares her passion for Russian novels. My House in Umbria tells of Emily Delahunty, a writer of romantic novels, who helps the survivors of a bomb attack on a train to convalesce, inventing colourful pasts for her patients. Two novels, two women who retreat further into the realm of the imagination until the boundaries between what is real and what is not become blurred . . . 'One of the most beautiful and memorable things Trevor has written' Independent on Sunday Reading Turgenev was shortlisted for the Booker Prize Readers of Love and Summer and Felicia's Journey will adore Two Lives . It will also be cherished by readers of Colm Toibin and William Boyd. William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork. He has written eighteen novels and novellas, and hundreds of short stories, for which he has won a number of prizes including the Hawthornden Prize, the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the David Cohen Literature Prize in recognition of a lifetime's literary achievement. In 2002 he was knighted for his services to literature. His books in Penguin are: After Rain; A Bit on the Side; Bodily Secrets; Cheating at Canasta; The Children of Dynmouth; The Collected Stories (Volumes One and Two); Death in Summer; Felicia's Journey; Fools of Fortune; The Hill Bachelors; Love and Summer; The Mark-2 Wife; Selected Stories; The Story of Lucy Gault and Two Lives . An Irish country girl marries in haste but finds an escape from her loveless marriage in William Trevor’s haunting and evocative tale."Marvellous, superb. As rich and moving as anything I have read in years. When I reach the end . . . I wanted to start right again at the beginning." - The GuardianYoung, ingenuous Mary Louise Dallon, fearful of being trapped in her parents’ cramped farmhouse, cannot resist the limited attractions of the nearby small town. She marries into it, only to discover despair and desolation from which her sheltered girlhood had protected her. When she is rescued, it is not by a stalwart lover but by a bespectacled boy in poor health who reads her Turgenev in a deserted country churchyard.In Reading Turgenev, an Irish country girl is trapped in a loveless marriage with an older man. But she finds unusual solace in secret meetings with a man who shares her passion for Russian novels. The second story, My House in Umbria tells how romantic novelist Emily Delahunty helps the survivors of a bomb attack on a train and invents colourful pasts for her convalescent patients."Inquisitive and loving. Trevor's is among the most subtle and sophisticated fiction being written today." - New York Review Of BooksWilliam Trevor's novels won numerous awards, including the Hawthornden Prize and the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. Four of his novels have been nominated for the Booker Prize. 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. William Trevor's astonishing range as a writer--his humor, subtlety, and compassionate grasp of human behavior--is fully demonstrated in these two short novels. In Reading Turgenev, a lonely country girl escapes her loveless marriage in the arms of a bookish young man. In My House in Umbria, a former madam befriends the other survivors of a terrorist bombing with surprising results. Nominated for the Booker Award.

William Trevor's astonishing range as a writer--his humor, subtlety, and compassionate grasp of human behavior--is fully demonstrated in these two short novels. In "Reading Turgenev," a lonely country girl escapes her loveless marriage in the arms of a bookish young man. In "My House in Umbria," a former madam befriends the other survivors of a terrorist bombing with surprising results. Nominated for the Booker Award.

Contains two novels. In "Reading Turgenev", young Mary Louise Dalton cannot resist the limited attractions of the nearby small town in Ireland. In "My house in Umbria", Mrs. Emily Delahunty writes romantic fiction in her retirement in Italy Features two novels, both focussing on women who retreat into their imaginations until the boundaries between what is real and what is not become blurred. This title includes: "Reading Turgenev" and "My House in Umbria". Two novels--"Reading Turgenev" and "My house in Umbria"--explore the lives of two women whose lives are marred by the absence of love