The Story of Lucy Gault

This novel, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2002, is a haunting story of missed connections and the long-lasting effects our impetuous mistakes can have on our lives.

Lucy Gault is a young girl living an idyllic life with her mother and father in 1920s Ireland. Because her mother is English, the family has been targeted by Irish activists and lives under the threat of violence. Her father, Captain Gault, decides it is time to move the family to England. In order to delay or postpone the move, Lucy decides to hide in the woods on moving day. Through a series of plausible coincidences, she is believed to have drowned in the sea. Heartbroken, her mother and father move away, wandering Europe aimlessly, and more important, without permanent address.

In actuality, Lucy was injured in the woods, and is found barely alive after her parents are gone. So begins a lifetime of patience, of waiting, of self-denial, of loneliness, and of forgiveness. Thematically, it reminds me of McEwan's Atonement.

William Trevor hits all the right notes while touching on many major themes in this book. There are a lot of big ideas, but he does not hit you over the head with them. The words seep into you and imbue the reader with a sense of melancholy, but of continuous hope- much the same feelings that Lucy experiences throughout the novel. Very skillfully plotted and hard to put down.