"Whether a story found in this magnificent accumulation is new to the reader or familiar, Trevor's technical skills—for instance, abrupt time shifts that are seamless and add rich layering to both plot and characterization, and pinpoint-perfect word choice resonant as a subtle but effective spice—can be readily recognized by readers with an eye to fiction construction; but on the other hand, these skills will be unconsciously gathered by readers unconcerned with technical analysis. In this master storyteller's hands, rural Ireland becomes the cosmos in which every one of us feels at home. The unfortunate ending of a friendship, the pain of a wife's discovery of her husband's affair, a husband's sacrifice of his affair so his mistress won't be regarded as just someone's "bit on the side"—these specific situations assemble under the book's umbrella theme of ordinary life as undulating waves of pleasures and crises."—Booklist (starred review)