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Title: Felicia's Journey by William Trevor, Dermot Crowley ISBN: 0-7451-2735-5 Publisher: Chivers Audio Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $54.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3.93 (42 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: A master of the unadorned style . . .
Comment: There are only two real characters in this drama, narrated in Trevor's usual spare, sparse style that puts you into the heart of things. There's Felicia, a somewhat plain teenage girl from a depressed industrial town in the Irish Republic. She's the product of a convent school, but only on suffrance because her father tends the convent's gardens. She's inexperienced and naive and when Johnny Lysaght comes along and turns her head, her subsequent pregnancy is no surprise. And there's Mr. Hilditch, a fifty-something catering manager at a factory in the English Midlands, who lives by himself and fancies young girls, though he's very careful "not to shop near home," as he thinks of it. Felicia runs away from home in search of the absent Johnny, but she finds it's not easy even to survive, much less to locate an errant Irishman, in England. She's a bit suspicious of Hilditch when he tries to help her out, but he arranges things to reduce her options, and Felicia is suddenly in very great danger indeed. Trevor does a terrific job getting inside the head of a pleasant, mild-mannered psychopath, allowing the reader to gradually understand what makes him tick. He won the Whitbread Prize (again) for this novel and he deserved it.

Rating: 3
Summary: This is a downer.
Comment: Warning: Do not read further if you plan to read the book.

"Felicia's Journey" is a downer. While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, many "down" books can be uplifting and even illuminating. Think "Sophie's Choice" or "Enemies: A Love Story," and see what I mean. Though well written, "Felcia's Journey" tells an all too familiar story of two lost characters who come together by chance, and the resulting conseqences. Trevor's style is internal and introspective, and has an almost Joycean time perspective, as we learn things about Felicia's and Mr, Hilditch's pasts right in the midst of the present time situations. This device and Trevor's language is skillfully informative, telling us not only about the cultural ethos of working class Ireland, but the loneliness and isolation leading to the emergence of a psychologically aberrant personality. And to a point the reader can sympathize with both characters. But Trevor also maintains a distance, which may please some, but left too much unanswered. For instance-- how does Felica escape? And just why is it she, of all the girls, who has such a profound effect on Hilditch? And why should it drive him to take his life, and how does he do it? Lastly, will Felicia spend book eternity endlessly jouneying? What is the point? Perhaps I am too outcome conscious, but there was more I wanted to know than was given. "Felicia's Journey" will soon be released as a film. I shall be curious to see how this threadbare text is expanded and dramatized for the screen. Trevor's novel is skillful and stylized, yet manages to miss the mark.

Rating: 5
Summary: TREVOR, A COMMANDER OF LUMINOUS PROSE
Comment: Here he is again, that commander of luminous prose William Trevor. With this, his 13th novel, the master has some surprises in store as his unparalleled accounting weaves a psychological thriller.

Felicia, whose appearance is deemed "nun like" is the only daughter of an impoverished Irish gardener. She leaves the home where she cooks, cleans and tends to an elderly grandmother to find the boy she loves, Johnny. Knowing only that he works in a lawn mower factory somewhere in the English Midlands, she embarks on her fateful journey.

Unable to locate the factory, let alone Johnny, she is befriended by Mr. Hilditch, a portly catering manager with a penchant for pop tunes from the 50s, a portrait gallery of strangers decorating his walls, and a black past. Mr. Hilditch follows her, assures her dependence upon him by stealing her money, and eventually takes her into his home.

Trevor's brilliant narrative skills are showcased as he weaves the story with flashbacks, revelations of his characters' thoughts, and displays of their dreams. As always, he is articulate and compassionate, bringing his shuddery thriller to the zenith of a conclusion.