Perhaps wrongly: if she'd shared her feelings with her daughter the disaster might have been avoided. Meanwhile there are two other women who have a claim on the would-be bridegroom - and the way things are shaping up it might be one of them, rather than Julia, who comes off worst out of the situation.

William Trevor's brilliant novel explores the small horrors that lie close to the surface of ordinary life.

'A constantly surprising work, pungent with the sense of evil and corruption' John Updike, New Yorker

'Trevor is a master of both language and storytelling' Hilary Mantel

Other People's Worlds by William Trevor - a classic early novel by one of the world's greatest writers.