WILLIAM TREVOR - AFTER RAIN

Image: floor of an apple orchard

Can’t get through one of these stories without a sigh. I’m never exactly sure whether I’m sighing over how good they are or how heartbreaking. Someone always ends up doomed or lonesome at the end. The endings are particularly noteworthy: if the story is laced loosely before, the last two paragraphs are a space of swift tightening, focus, snug pleasures. Read, April 2020.