Born in 1928 in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, William Trevor was educated at TCD and lives in Devon. He has written many novels, including The Children of Dynmouth and Fools of Fortune, both winners of the Whitbread Fiction Award; and Felicia's Journey, which won the Whitbread Book of the Year and was made into a film starring Bob Hoskins. A celebrated short story writer (John Banville has described him as "the finest living writer of short stories"), he is the editor of The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories and the author of the acclaimed short story (also made into a film) "The Ballroom of Romance". This extract from "The Mourning" is taken from his new collection of stories, The Hill Bachelors (Viking, £15.99 in UK), published this month. His Collected Stories were published in 1992. William Trevor was awarded an honorary CBE in 1977.