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The Ballroom Of Romance And Other Stories
William Trevor's second book of short stories proves once again that he is the master of the art.
CONTENTS
Access To The Children
Nice Say At School
The Ballroom Of Romance
The Forty-Seventh Saturday
A Happy Family
Going Home
An Evening With John Joe Dempsey
The Mark-2 Wife
The Grass Widows
A Choice Of Butchers
Kinkies
O Fat White Woman
CONTENTS
Access To The Children
Nice Say At School
The Ballroom Of Romance
The Forty-Seventh Saturday
A Happy Family
Going Home
An Evening With John Joe Dempsey
The Mark-2 Wife
The Grass Widows
A Choice Of Butchers
Kinkies
O Fat White Woman
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
7 people are currently reading
261 people want to read
About the author
William Trevor
177 books761 followersWilliam Trevor, KBE grew up in various provincial towns and attended a number of schools, graduating from Trinity College, in Dublin, with a degree in history. He first exercised his artistry as a sculptor, working as a teacher in Northern Ireland and then emigrated to England in search of work when the school went bankrupt. He could have returned to Ireland once he became a successful writer, he said, "but by then I had become a wanderer, and one way and another, I just stayed in England ... I hated leaving Ireland. I was very bitter at the time. But, had it not happened, I think I might never have written at all."
In 1958 Trevor published his first novel, A Standard of Behaviour, to little critical success. Two years later, he abandoned sculpting completely, feeling his work had become too abstract, and found a job writing copy for a London advertising agency. 'This was absurd,' he said. 'They would give me four lines or so to write and four or five days to write it in. It was so boring. But they had given me this typewriter to work on, so I just started writing stories. I sometimes think all the people who were missing in my sculpture gushed out into the stories.' He published several short stories, then his second and third novels, which both won the Hawthornden Prize (established in 1919 by Alice Warrender and named after William Drummond of Hawthornden, the Hawthornden Prize is one of the UK's oldest literary awards). A number of other prizes followed, and Trevor began working full-time as a writer in 1965.
Since then, Trevor has published nearly 40 novels, short story collections, plays, and collections of nonfiction. He has won three Whitbread Awards, a PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 1977 Trevor was appointed an honorary (he holds Irish, not British, citizenship) Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to literature and in 2002 he was elevated to honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). Since he began writing, William Trevor regularly spends half the year in Italy or Switzerland, often visiting Ireland in the other half. He lived in Devon, in South West England, on an old mill surrounded by 40 acres of land.
In 1958 Trevor published his first novel, A Standard of Behaviour, to little critical success. Two years later, he abandoned sculpting completely, feeling his work had become too abstract, and found a job writing copy for a London advertising agency. 'This was absurd,' he said. 'They would give me four lines or so to write and four or five days to write it in. It was so boring. But they had given me this typewriter to work on, so I just started writing stories. I sometimes think all the people who were missing in my sculpture gushed out into the stories.' He published several short stories, then his second and third novels, which both won the Hawthornden Prize (established in 1919 by Alice Warrender and named after William Drummond of Hawthornden, the Hawthornden Prize is one of the UK's oldest literary awards). A number of other prizes followed, and Trevor began working full-time as a writer in 1965.
Since then, Trevor has published nearly 40 novels, short story collections, plays, and collections of nonfiction. He has won three Whitbread Awards, a PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 1977 Trevor was appointed an honorary (he holds Irish, not British, citizenship) Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to literature and in 2002 he was elevated to honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). Since he began writing, William Trevor regularly spends half the year in Italy or Switzerland, often visiting Ireland in the other half. He lived in Devon, in South West England, on an old mill surrounded by 40 acres of land.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 13, 2024
In two or three paragraphs William Trevor (my new favourite writer) effortlessly absorbs you into the situation of another small group of people (a 36 year old woman in rural Ireland realises it’s time she stopped going to weekly dances at the ludicrously named Ballroom of Romance; a woman is stood up at a party by her husband and becomes possessed by the idea that he’s going to turn up with his new girlfriend and ask for a divorce) until you begin to feel that the average novel is a lumbering hippo (no offence, you hippos, but you do lumber) and the short story as written by a William Trevor is a fleet-footed gazelle, 30 or 40 pages only required.
A number of these stories are about the crumbling mental health of women living with perfectly ordinary men. He is great on showing the true appalling nature of the perfectly ordinary.
A number of these stories are about the crumbling mental health of women living with perfectly ordinary men. He is great on showing the true appalling nature of the perfectly ordinary.
April 11, 2019
The title short story is Trevor's first masterpiece of the form, and probably the only work of fiction ever written where one of the characters sees Wolverhampton as the Promised Land. The collection seems gentler than his debut (The Day We Got Drunk on Cake).
May 26, 2013
حصلت عليها أخيراً
yes, yes, yessss
قرأتها من حوالى خمس سنوات ومازلت أعتبرها من أعظم المجموعات القصصية التى قرأتها فى حياتى وستعاد قراءتها مرارا
yes, yes, yessss
قرأتها من حوالى خمس سنوات ومازلت أعتبرها من أعظم المجموعات القصصية التى قرأتها فى حياتى وستعاد قراءتها مرارا
August 31, 2014
From BBC Radio 3 - Proms:
Niamh Cusack reads one of William Trevor's greatest short stories, set in an isolated dance hall in Ireland.
Each Saturday night, 36-year-old Bridie leaves her ailing father, and cycles to the Ballroom of Romance, a wayside dance-hall where the local men and women meet to dance, talk and perhaps find love. For twenty years Bridie has cycled the seven miles there and back again; now, no longer a girl, she knows her chances of romance are fading but still there is Dano Ryan.
Niamh Cusack reads one of William Trevor's greatest short stories, set in an isolated dance hall in Ireland.
Each Saturday night, 36-year-old Bridie leaves her ailing father, and cycles to the Ballroom of Romance, a wayside dance-hall where the local men and women meet to dance, talk and perhaps find love. For twenty years Bridie has cycled the seven miles there and back again; now, no longer a girl, she knows her chances of romance are fading but still there is Dano Ryan.
July 20, 2024
Some of these stories are set in small town Ireland, an Ireland away from the frontline of the Troubles but also a dwindling place where people hope to work in a factory or shop after school, or more ambitiously, to get away, to Dublin or England. Others are in England, but there's not much hope there either. People are caught in a dead-end marriages and lives or come into contact with something quite hopeless or misunderstood in other people and themselves. It isn't that these stories wallow in misery, but that Trevor is interested in the people hardly anyone else is. Not usually tragic figures but just people who have the short end of the stick, so to speak -- people who have few opportunities and can't make more of themselves, people who have made a choice and tried to live with it. In one story, a woman undergoes a fugue during which she sees all the moments in her life when she could have taken a stand and not let things come to this. Perhaps there are multiple decisive moments in life -- more than one Rubicon for each of us to cross -- and Trevor tells us about people who do not rise to these moments triumphantly.
June 8, 2025
Excellent stuff, grim and sordid throughout but never dragging.
October 22, 2012
Exquisitely crafted. Dark and macabre on an emotional level. Leaves you unsettled about the everyday characters who posess difficult but unavoidable choices. In most cases the choices are between fantasy and reality. Reality is grim and always wins out. Just short of brilliant.
November 23, 2012
Dazzling Irish short stories.
August 30, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2024
This is William Trevor’s second collection of short stories. It is quite good...not a cheery story among the 12, but you should not expect cheerful stories from Trevor. Very good writing, interesting characters, and more often than not an interesting story line.
One thing I will gripe about and perhaps it smacks of political correctness but there’s phrase called fat shaming — a stigma on people who are obese has been pervasive since time immemorial. People who are fat shamed are considered to be inferior in many ways to people who do not suffer from obesity, and it’s their fault they’re fat, and they’re lazy, and ‘let’s make fun of them’....etc. etc. it’s terrible. Trevor stereotypes a woman in the last story in this collection...just look at the title. And he has her eating bon-bons early in the story (second sentence)...I kid you not.
• On the short grass of the lawn, tucked out of sight beneath her deck-chair, was a small box of Terry’s All Gold chocolates....
He doesn’t focus on women being fat. Men in some of his short stories are fat too.
Anyhoo, now that I have that off my chest, here are the story titles and my ratings, and when I could find the info, where and when the story was originally published (I failed miserably, finding only two of the 12):
1. Access to the Children — 3.5 stars
2. Nice Day at School — 3 stars
3. The Ballroom of Romance (orig. published in Transatlantic Review, No. 42/43, Spring-Summer 1972) — 3.5 stars
4. The Forty-seventh Saturday — 3 stats
5. A Happy Family (previously published in London Magazine, 1966, and Antioch Review, Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring, 1967) — 3 stars
6. Going Home — 2.5 stars
7. An Evening with John Joe Dempsey — 3.5 stars
8. The Mark-2 Wife — 2.5 stars
9. The Grass Widows — 3 stars
10. A Choice of Butchers — 4.5 stars
11. Kinkies — 1.5 stars
12. O Fat White Woman — 4 stars (fairly disturbing story...good writing and interesting but downright disturbing)
Reviews:
• https://www.letterpressproject.co.uk/...
• https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
• Book review – The Ballroom of Romance (★★★★☆) – Dublin Insight 2017 (wordpress.com)
• https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/wi...
Note:
• Other periodicals where one or more of these stories was originally published were London Magazine, Nova, Redbook, Winter’s Tales, and Penguin Modern Short Stories. Three of the short stories were made into television plays: The Mark-2 Wife, The Grass Widows, and O Fat White Woman. The Story, Going Home, was first broadcast by BBC Radio Three as a radio play.
One thing I will gripe about and perhaps it smacks of political correctness but there’s phrase called fat shaming — a stigma on people who are obese has been pervasive since time immemorial. People who are fat shamed are considered to be inferior in many ways to people who do not suffer from obesity, and it’s their fault they’re fat, and they’re lazy, and ‘let’s make fun of them’....etc. etc. it’s terrible. Trevor stereotypes a woman in the last story in this collection...just look at the title. And he has her eating bon-bons early in the story (second sentence)...I kid you not.
• On the short grass of the lawn, tucked out of sight beneath her deck-chair, was a small box of Terry’s All Gold chocolates....
He doesn’t focus on women being fat. Men in some of his short stories are fat too.
Anyhoo, now that I have that off my chest, here are the story titles and my ratings, and when I could find the info, where and when the story was originally published (I failed miserably, finding only two of the 12):
1. Access to the Children — 3.5 stars
2. Nice Day at School — 3 stars
3. The Ballroom of Romance (orig. published in Transatlantic Review, No. 42/43, Spring-Summer 1972) — 3.5 stars
4. The Forty-seventh Saturday — 3 stats
5. A Happy Family (previously published in London Magazine, 1966, and Antioch Review, Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring, 1967) — 3 stars
6. Going Home — 2.5 stars
7. An Evening with John Joe Dempsey — 3.5 stars
8. The Mark-2 Wife — 2.5 stars
9. The Grass Widows — 3 stars
10. A Choice of Butchers — 4.5 stars
11. Kinkies — 1.5 stars
12. O Fat White Woman — 4 stars (fairly disturbing story...good writing and interesting but downright disturbing)
Reviews:
• https://www.letterpressproject.co.uk/...
• https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
• Book review – The Ballroom of Romance (★★★★☆) – Dublin Insight 2017 (wordpress.com)
• https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/wi...
Note:
• Other periodicals where one or more of these stories was originally published were London Magazine, Nova, Redbook, Winter’s Tales, and Penguin Modern Short Stories. Three of the short stories were made into television plays: The Mark-2 Wife, The Grass Widows, and O Fat White Woman. The Story, Going Home, was first broadcast by BBC Radio Three as a radio play.
June 5, 2018
*3.75 stars.
"If the weight of circumstances hadn't intervened she wouldn't be standing in a wayside ballroom, mourning the marriage of a road-mender she didn't love. For a moment she thought she might cry, standing there thinking of Patrick Grady in Wolverhampton. In her life, on the farm and in the house, there was no place for tears. Tears were a luxury, like flowers would be in fields where the mangolds grew..." (67).
"...and it wasn't right that he should be going out getting minnows in a jam-jar with an elderly affected creature. It would go against his chances in the sawmills" (152).
"He closed the door of his room and looked with affection at his bed, for in the end there was only that. It was a bed that, sagging, held him in its centre and wrapped him warmly" (153).
"John Joe shed his clothes, shedding also the small town and his mother and Mr Lynch..." (153).
"He allowed his full opinion of the man to pervade his glance" (184).
"If the weight of circumstances hadn't intervened she wouldn't be standing in a wayside ballroom, mourning the marriage of a road-mender she didn't love. For a moment she thought she might cry, standing there thinking of Patrick Grady in Wolverhampton. In her life, on the farm and in the house, there was no place for tears. Tears were a luxury, like flowers would be in fields where the mangolds grew..." (67).
"...and it wasn't right that he should be going out getting minnows in a jam-jar with an elderly affected creature. It would go against his chances in the sawmills" (152).
"He closed the door of his room and looked with affection at his bed, for in the end there was only that. It was a bed that, sagging, held him in its centre and wrapped him warmly" (153).
"John Joe shed his clothes, shedding also the small town and his mother and Mr Lynch..." (153).
"He allowed his full opinion of the man to pervade his glance" (184).
June 24, 2021
“Irischer Tanzsaal“ enthält frühe Erzählungen von William Trevor.
Seine erzählerische Bandbreite ist immens.
Trevor kann jedes Milieu beschreiben.
Vom 15-jährigen Pubertierenden bis zur dreißigjährigen Single Frau auf der Suche nach einem Mann.
Trevors Erzählungen sind vielseitig, seine Charaktere oftmals gescheiterte Existenzen.
Es gibt eine Geschichte über Trevor. Er soll jeden Tag auf einer Parkbank gesessen haben und den Unterhaltungen der Menschen gelauscht haben. Er hat sie sich aber nie zu Ende angehört. Wenn er genug für eine neue Geschichte hatte, ist er gegangen und hat diese verfasst.
Diese Interesse für jeden Menschen macht seine Geschichten So echt und menschlich.
Seine erzählerische Bandbreite ist immens.
Trevor kann jedes Milieu beschreiben.
Vom 15-jährigen Pubertierenden bis zur dreißigjährigen Single Frau auf der Suche nach einem Mann.
Trevors Erzählungen sind vielseitig, seine Charaktere oftmals gescheiterte Existenzen.
Es gibt eine Geschichte über Trevor. Er soll jeden Tag auf einer Parkbank gesessen haben und den Unterhaltungen der Menschen gelauscht haben. Er hat sie sich aber nie zu Ende angehört. Wenn er genug für eine neue Geschichte hatte, ist er gegangen und hat diese verfasst.
Diese Interesse für jeden Menschen macht seine Geschichten So echt und menschlich.
May 6, 2017
A masterly portrayal of unhinged relationships, deluding reality with fiction...
April 9, 2020
Great read. William Trevors ability to capture people and their emotions and thoughts is always stunning. They total leap of the page and in only a few pages you feel you know them.
January 17, 2022
This rating is for the short story only.
April 12, 2022
Quite masterful really. Quite like John McGahern but also in a different way, Trevor makes me aware of an Ireland that once was.
January 23, 2023
Ah, Trevor. Master of the short story. This collection was perfect.
July 28, 2023
هكذا تكون القصص القصيرة
من زمن لم استمتع بمجموعة قصص لهذه الدرجة
كانت كل قصة كافية ووافية ومليئة بالتفاصيل، فما كدت انتهي من إحداهن حتى شعرت بأنني انتهيت من رواية دسمة...
من زمن لم استمتع بمجموعة قصص لهذه الدرجة
كانت كل قصة كافية ووافية ومليئة بالتفاصيل، فما كدت انتهي من إحداهن حتى شعرت بأنني انتهيت من رواية دسمة...
February 7, 2013
Tough call! Some pieces are quite dated, while others present characters that are more types than specific people. Interesting to contrast with Joyce's Dubliners, a damn sight older, which still feels fresh throughout.
That said, a number of the stories here are very fine indeed, and Trevor's range is impressive. My first real immersion in him, having only previously read Felicia's Journey, which I'm afraid I've pretty much forgotten. Anyway, the title story is, unsurprisingly, the standout.
That said, a number of the stories here are very fine indeed, and Trevor's range is impressive. My first real immersion in him, having only previously read Felicia's Journey, which I'm afraid I've pretty much forgotten. Anyway, the title story is, unsurprisingly, the standout.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews