About this ebook
Alone together in a London hospital ward, four women take stock of their lives in this "deeply moving novel" by the award-winning author of The Old Boys ( The New York Times).
At forty-one, the news that she requires a hysterectomy strikes Elizabeth Aidallbery as something of a nonevent. But from her bed at Cheltenham Women's Hospital, the divorced mother of three comes to realize that she is at a crossroads. She meets two other women admitted for the same operation: Young Sylvie Clapper, who is preoccupied with her dishonest boyfriend; and poor Miss Samson, with her disfiguring birthmark, who runs a Christian boarding house. In the ward with them is Lily Drucker, determined to have a child despite insurmountable difficulties.
With compassion and wry humor, these very different women share their lives, concerns, and regrets. Elizabeth faces a lonesome life that includes a childhood friend turned hapless suitor, and a teenage daughter who has run off to a commune. But there is a hard-won grace in the companionship these women find in Trevor's "finely observed, gently sensitive comedy" that is "delightful to read" ( Daily Telegraph).
At forty-one, the news that she requires a hysterectomy strikes Elizabeth Aidallbery as something of a nonevent. But from her bed at Cheltenham Women's Hospital, the divorced mother of three comes to realize that she is at a crossroads. She meets two other women admitted for the same operation: Young Sylvie Clapper, who is preoccupied with her dishonest boyfriend; and poor Miss Samson, with her disfiguring birthmark, who runs a Christian boarding house. In the ward with them is Lily Drucker, determined to have a child despite insurmountable difficulties.
With compassion and wry humor, these very different women share their lives, concerns, and regrets. Elizabeth faces a lonesome life that includes a childhood friend turned hapless suitor, and a teenage daughter who has run off to a commune. But there is a hard-won grace in the companionship these women find in Trevor's "finely observed, gently sensitive comedy" that is "delightful to read" ( Daily Telegraph).
Alone together in a London hospital ward, four women take stock of their lives in this "deeply moving novel" by the award-winning author of The Old Boys ( The New York Times).
At forty-one, the news that she requires a hysterectomy strikes Elizabeth Aidallbery as something of a nonevent. But fro...
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About the author
William Trevor KBE was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary writers of short stories in the English language.
William Trevor KBE was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary writers of short stories in the English language.
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