There are ten stories in this collection. The recurring themes of loneliness, death, betrayal, delusion, and loss might make them sound rather bleak but his spare prose and concise narratives avoid melodrama or repetition. All the main characters struggle with and never conquer their yearnings, which are challenged or thwarted through singular moments of quiet drama. And, despite there being no radical or titillating action, what lingers in the reader's mind long after reading feels like reverberations of aftershocks.

One particularity that animates several of these stories is how two unlikely characters come together: a middle-aged caretaker and strange European workmen; an amnesiac picture-restorer and a street prostitute; a widow and a widower from different social strata.

The lonely, older woman of the shabby, genteel kind is a recognizable Trevor archetype here. As ever, though, Trevor's unfailing compassion and understated humor serve as reliable anchors to prevent the pathos-filled narratives from sinking into sentimentality.

[This is part of a complete review to be published. I will add the link then.]

I've only recently started reading this author, feel in love with his stories, his writing which always shows so much compassion. In this collection, his last, he shows how people fare after life's betrayals, often highlighting loneliness and loss. Some are rather grim, but show a marked insight into the frailty of us all.

I enjoyed all of these, but my three favorites included the first story, The Piano Teachers Pupil. In this story a woman, now in her fifties, considers herself fortunate but is also lonely. She feels a sense of genius skating from the playing of this young man. He has an unfortunate habit though, one that costs the teacher a few material items, but she feels the illicit trade is well worth it as long as she can keep hearing his playing.

The others I liked were a rather grim Mrs. Crasthorpe, two lives that barely intersect will prove unforgettable for one, but in a rather sad way. There was just something in the melancholy tone in which this was written that appealed. I also enjoyed An Idyll in Winter, I felt this was the most compassionatly written of them all, as it would be so easy for us to judge and criticize the male character in this one.

I may have come to this author late, and am sad that he is gone, but I do have many of his books still to savor. That is something in which to look forward.