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A review by kimbofo
Bodily Secrets by William Trevor
4.0
Bodily Secrets, by William Trevor, was published in 2007 as part of a 20-book series called “Penguin Great Loves”. This slim volume features five short stories — previously published in The Collected Stories of William Trevor in 1992 — all revolving around various forms of love, including unreciprocated love, adulterous love, sexual love and convenient love.
As ever, Trevor’s stories are compelling and expertly crafted and full of memorable characters and incidents. Each one looks at how love profoundly shapes, challenges and transforms the men in these vastly different stories, all set in different periods and locations.
The opening story, The Day We Got Drunk on Cake, is a black comedy about a man boozing his way around London's Soho while coming to terms with the "love of his life" no longer being interested in him.
In Love with Ariadne is a bittersweet tale about a medical student in a boarding house who falls in love with the landlady’s daughter — but nothing comes of the relationship.
Trevor turns his focus to illicit love between a married man and a much younger woman in Lovers of Their Time. The affair between Norman, a travel agent, and Marie, who is a shop assistant in a pharmacy, begins tentatively on New Year’s Day in 1963 and ends, sadly, many years later.
In the titular story, Bodily Secrets, a wealthy 59-year-old widow remarries to have a “companion for her advancing years”. Her choice of a local man seems unwise but proves to be the perfect match.
A similar “marriage of convenience” occurs in Honeymoon in Tramore in which a farm labourer marries the farmer’s daughter, when she falls pregnant to someone else.
These poignant tales beautifully showcase the complexities and vulnerabilities of human relationships. Reading them is such a wonderfully intimate and rewarding experience.
For a more detailed review, please visit my blog.
As ever, Trevor’s stories are compelling and expertly crafted and full of memorable characters and incidents. Each one looks at how love profoundly shapes, challenges and transforms the men in these vastly different stories, all set in different periods and locations.
The opening story, The Day We Got Drunk on Cake, is a black comedy about a man boozing his way around London's Soho while coming to terms with the "love of his life" no longer being interested in him.
In Love with Ariadne is a bittersweet tale about a medical student in a boarding house who falls in love with the landlady’s daughter — but nothing comes of the relationship.
Trevor turns his focus to illicit love between a married man and a much younger woman in Lovers of Their Time. The affair between Norman, a travel agent, and Marie, who is a shop assistant in a pharmacy, begins tentatively on New Year’s Day in 1963 and ends, sadly, many years later.
In the titular story, Bodily Secrets, a wealthy 59-year-old widow remarries to have a “companion for her advancing years”. Her choice of a local man seems unwise but proves to be the perfect match.
A similar “marriage of convenience” occurs in Honeymoon in Tramore in which a farm labourer marries the farmer’s daughter, when she falls pregnant to someone else.
These poignant tales beautifully showcase the complexities and vulnerabilities of human relationships. Reading them is such a wonderfully intimate and rewarding experience.
For a more detailed review, please visit my blog.