Nights at the Alexandra (Hardcover)

The story here is one of love, on multiple levels - not a traditional love story by any means, but one that illuminates the various natures of love as they appear as blessings in our lives. The story is narrated by Harry, 'a fifty-eight year old provincial' as he describes himself - never married, no children. His life is nonetheless a full one - and it is not without love. His fondest memories, of a time in his adolescence, revolve around a woman named Frau Messinger - a beautiful English woman who is married to a much older German man. They have come to live in rural Ireland during the dark days of World War II. Herr Messinger's presence in the small town where Harry lives is a subject of constant speculation and no small amount of suspicion among the town's residents. Harry's father - despite evidence to the contrary - insists that Messinger is a 'Jew man', come to Ireland to escape Hitler's unimaginable persecutions.

Harry gets to know Frau Messinger when she asks him to run small errands for her - and he quickly becomes a sort of sounding board for the woman, who begins telling him things about her life. One might suspect at this point in the story that the woman is looking for a lover - but as she speaks to Harry, it becomes clear that she dearly loves her husband and appreciates what he has given her. Their marriage may not be a conventional one - the age factor, for one thing - but they are devoted to each other. One page one, she tells the boy, 'Harry, I have the happiest marriage in the world! Please, when you think of me, remember that.' It becomes clear as the story progresses that she means every word of this.

In the process and progress of the friendship between the boy and the beautiful English woman, Harry becomes aware of the many facets of the jewel of love. His school friends see his relationship with her as one with sexual possibilities. His mother calls the woman a strumpet and forbids him to go to the Messingers' home any more - a ban he defies, drawn by the gentle love and friendship offered him there, something that he has missed sorely in his home, where emotions are things to be constricted and never voiced.

Trevor's prose flows gently - the book is a quick read, even being so short - and it is sheer delight. I could call this one of his greatest works - but it would be in crowded company, for everything I've read by this amazing writer is of the highest quality.

The book begins as Harry, a 58 year old, cinema owner in an Irish coastal town reflects back to his life and the time during the beginning of WWII. On the brink of adolescence, Harry was quite bored with the days he spent at his boarding school and now with his days spent in his hometown where he was forced to return when the school closed down due to the war. But life is about to change for Harry when an émigré couple move to this hometown and announce plans to open a cinema theater. Mr. Messinger is a much older man from Germany while his wife is who is both elegant and beautiful is a much younger English woman. When the couple ask Harry to work for them in the ticket booth of the cinema Harry wil have one of the greatest learning experiences from his days and nights spent with this couple specifically Mrs. Messinger. For it is this woman who ultimately will have the most profound effect on Harry as he spends his nights at the Alexandra and comes under her spell. As the war rages about all of them Harry learns about life and love from this woman and even years later thinking back on this time period in his life, Harry realizes Mrs. Messinger she still holds a very special place in his heart.

As an avid reader I have long heard about William Trevor although Nights at the Alexandra was my first experience reading any of his works. In this sparse narrative, Trevor wrote volumes about the innocence of youth, unhappiness, dislocation, memories, dreams realized and regrets we may have as we look back on our youth from a different place in time. But most of all, this book depicted how random people can shape our lives. The author not only placed me in a front row seat during this novel but left me wishing I could spend more time with these people. Now I can't wait to read more from this well-known author.

The sense of loss and longing expressed by Harry in this short novel reminds me of one of Trevor's more powerful and affecting short stories, "A Sensitive Nature". If you like "Nights at the Alexandra", look up that one too.