A Bit on the Side

A Bit on the Side is a short-story collection by the Irish writer William Trevor (1928–2016), first published in 2004. The Chinese edition, translated by Yang Lingfeng, was published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House in February 2015 in the Short Classics series. It contains twelve stories, most of them set in the Irish countryside or small English towns, and its characters are chiefly the unnoticed, the disappointed and those who cannot keep up with the times: an old man in a decaying house, middle-aged men and women worn down by love and obligation, ordinary people who swallow their grievances in silence. Trevor never stages dramatic confrontations. Instead he places the slow accumulation of marital fatigue, the inexpressible distances within families and the emptiness left after love has ebbed into everyday dialogue and small gestures, letting betrayal, misunderstanding and reconciliation surface quietly through a calm narrative. The title, taken from one of the stories, refers to the subtle drift and estrangement that can arise in emotional relationships. Critics generally agree that the collection continues Trevor's characteristic restraint: he does not judge his characters or preach at them, but lets the truth of their lives emerge through spare, precise language, leaving a long aftertaste.