Fools of Fortune

To my mind Trevor’s best novel and a very fine one.” —Graham Greene Penguin Classics is proud to welcome William Trevor—Ireland’s answer to Chekhov” (The Boston Globe) and one of the best writers of our era” (The Washington Post)—to our distinguished list of literary masters. In this award-winning novel, an informer’s body is found on the estate of a wealthy Irish family shortly after the First World War, and an appalling cycle of revenge is set in motion. Led by a zealous sergeant, the Black and Tans set fire to the family home, and only young Willie and his mother escape alive. Fatherless, Willie grows into manhood while his alcoholic mother’s bitter resentment festers. And though he finds love, Willie is unable to leave the terrible injuries of the past behind.

William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, in 1928, and spent his childhood in provincial Ireland. He is the author of more than thirty books and is a member of the Irish Academy of Letters and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Francine Prose is the author of thirteen books of fiction, including the novel Blue Angel, a finalist for the National Book Award.