William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, and spent his childhood in provincial Ireland. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin. He has written many novels and short story collections and has won many prizes, including the Hawthornden Prize and the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. The Story of Lucy Gault was shortlisted for both the Man Booker Prize and the Whitbread Fiction Prize. In 2002 he was knighted for his services to literature. (From Publisher)