Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
Introduction
William Trevor has long been regarded as one of Ireland's most evocative
writers, a prose stylist of the highest order with a Chekhovian awareness of the
emotional undercurrents of his characters' lives. And in
The Story of Lucy
Gault, Trevor lives up to, perhaps even surpasses, that reputation in a
novel that explores the tragic consequences for one family of Ireland's
deep-seated political strife.
The Story of Lucy Gault is set in provincial Ireland in the early
1920s at the height of civil turmoil and anti-English violence. Everard Gault, a
retired Anglo-Irish army captain married to an Englishwoman, shoots and wounds
one of the boys who has come in the night to set their house afire. This act
sets in motion a chain of events that are to have grievous effects on the Gault
family. Convinced their attackers will return, Everard and Heloise decide they
must leave Ireland. But their daughter Lucy, heartbroken at such a prospect,
runs away. When some of her clothes are found by the ocean shore, her parents
assume she has committed suicide. In their grief they decide to travel,
aimlessly at first, before settling in Italy and then Switzerland, losing touch
entirely with Ireland. They remain unaware that Lucy did not die but has lived
out the years waiting for their return, unable to forgive herself for her
youthful recklessness. And, indeed, the problem of forgiveness lies at the heart
of
The Story of Lucy Gault—forgiveness for the act of terror that drove
the family away, for Everard and Heloise's mistaken conclusion that their
daughter had drowned, and for all the words left unspoken that might have
changed their fates.
With a subtlety and emotional insight rarely matched in contemporary fiction,
The Story of Lucy Gault follows the inexorable unfolding of a few chance
events that alter the lives of a family and unforgettably illuminate the
contours of the human condition.
Discussion Questions
- The Story of Lucy Gault is as much about what doesn't happen, or
what almost happens, as what does. Lahardane is almost set afire, Lucy comes
close to marrying Ralph, Everard writes letters to Ireland but does not send
them. What other instances reveal the significance of things not
happening? Is the novel saying that what we do not do shapes our
lives as much as what we do do?
- What role does chance play in the novel? What crucial turning points are
brought about by chance occurrences? Does this preponderance of chance
events suggest the hand of fate directing the characters' lives, or rather a
meaningless randomness, the absence of fate?
- Lucy blames herself, her rash decision to run away, for her parents'
leaving; her parents blame themselves for not being more sensitive and
honest with their daughter. "We told her lies," Everard says (p.
31). How should the blame be apportioned between Lucy and her parents? To
what extent are larger historical and political forces to blame for what
happens to the Gault family?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Penguin.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
