The Silence in the Garden

Nov 10, 2025 9:23 PM

Author:William Trevor

The Silence in the Garden by William Trevor - a classic early novel by one of the world's greatest writers

Family secrets take their toll on the children of an old Irish family

In the summer of 1904 Sarah Pollenfax, the daughter of an impecunious clergyman, arrives at Carriglas, an island off the coast of Cork, to act as governess for her distant cousins. It's a magical time in a magical place. But when she comes back almost thirty years later, after the First World War and the Irish Civil War have taken their toll, she discovers that there were things going on during that apparently idyllic summer which now horrify her and which cast a long shadow over the remnants of the family still living there.

'William Trevor's precisions and indirections slowly and balefully accumulate in this, his most ambitious novel' Anthony Thwaite, London Review of Books

'Offers marvels with Mr Trevor's customary understated dexterity' New York Times

William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, in 1928. He spent his childhood in Ireland and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, but has lived in England for many years. An acknowledged master of the short-story form, he has also written many highly acclaimed novels: he has won the Whitbread Fiction Prize three times and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize four times. His most recent novel was Love and Summer (Penguin, 2010).

Reviews

This succès de scandale from 1973 remains funny, clever and perceptive.

—— John Bungey , The Times

Unbridled classic.

—— Daily Telegraph

An intelligent, expressive examination of a woman’s mind, and of her gradual understanding of what feminism means… Erica Jong was a pioneer…she was, and still is, honest, brazen, bold and funny… If you want an insight into what life was really like for clever, sexy women 40 or 50 years ago, and how far we’ve come, you could do a lot worse than pick up Fear of Flying.

—— ASOS

Witty, brazen and liberating

—— Independent

Uninhibited, erotic, delicious

—— John Updike

Furiously good

—— Guardian

Extraordinary… At once wildly funny and very wise

—— Los Angeles Times

A picaresque, funny, touching adventure

—— New York Review of Books

Great humour... energetic, bawdy

—— New York Times

Brilliantly articulate-the wit is dazzling

—— Monica Dickens

A fascinating journey into what might have been, this novel of alternate history will keep you turning the pages and leave you hoping for a sequel

—— Kate Emerson, author of , A Royal Inheritance

Fans of both Stephenie Meyer and Philippa Gregory will find much to love in this evocative and well-written debut

—— Francine Mathews, author of , Jack 1939

Immensely addictive and twisty—kudos to Laura Andersen for her crafty plotting and rich characterizations. Deliciously scandalous and seductive, The Boleyn King delivers history and romance with equal passion

—— Becca Fitzpatrick , New York Times bestselling author of Hush, Hush

From the intrigue of the Tudor court to the battlefields of France, you will be entranced by the power, emotion, and sweeping romance of this spellbinding novel. I loved it and can’t wait for the next book in the series!

—— Syrie James, bestselling author of , The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen

... a riveting page-turner ... For historical fiction fans and Tudor aficionados, The Boleyn King is a must-read

—— Sherry Jones, author of , Four Sisters, All Queens

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