William Trevor published 18 novels, 1 novella, 21 short story collections, 2 non-fiction books, 1 children's book and 6 other books, beginning with A Standard of Behaviour (1958). The best-known is The Collected Stories (1991).
Updated September 2026
Where to start with William Trevor
Start here
The Collected Stories
William Trevor's most-read book.
Standalone novels in order
A Standard of Behaviour (1958)
The Old Boys (1964)
The Boarding-house (1965)
Love Department (1966)
Mrs. Eckdorf in O'Neill's Hotel (1969)
Elizabeth Alone (1973)
The Children of Dynmouth (1976)
Other People's Worlds (1980)
Fools of Fortune (1983)
The Silence in the Garden (1988)
Two Lives (Jan 1991)
Felicia's Journey (1994)
Miss Gomez and the Brethren (1997)
Death in Summer (1998)
The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction (1999)
The Story of Lucy Gault (2002)
Bodily Secrets (2007)
Love and Summer (2009)
Novellas in order
Nights at the Alexandra (1987)
Short story collections in order
The Day We Got Drunk on Cake (1967)
Lovers of Their Time, and Other Stories (1978)
The Stories of William Trevor (1983)
The News from Ireland & Other Stories (1986)
The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories (1989)
Family Sins & Other Stories (1990)
The Penguin Book of British Comic Stories (1990)
The Collected Stories (1991)
Great Irish Tales of Horror (1995)
Ireland (1995)
After Rain (1996)
Great Irish Stories of Childhood (1997)
God (1998)
The Hill Bachelors (2000)
A Bit on the Side (2004)
The Ecco Book of Christmas Stories (2006)
Cheating at Canasta (2007)
Selected Stories (2010)
The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story (2010)
The Mark2 Wife (2011)
Last Stories (2018)
Non-fiction in order
A Writer's Ireland (1984)
Excursions in Real World (1993)
Children's books in order
Juliet's Story (1991)
Other books in order
Trevor (1989)
The Piano Tuner's Wives (1990)
Reading Turgenev (1991)
The Ballroom of Romance (1991)
Trio (1993)
The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories (2005)
About William Trevor
William Trevor Cox was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary writers of short stories in the English language. Trevor won the Whitbread Prize three times and was nominated five times for the Booker Prize, the last for his novel Love and Summer (2009), which was also shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award in 2011. His name was also mentioned in relation to the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
William Trevor FAQ
- How many books has William Trevor written?
- William Trevor published 18 novels, 1 novella, 21 short story collections, 2 non-fiction books, 1 children's book and 6 other books that we list, as of September 2026.
- What order should I read William Trevor's books in?
- Publication order is a safe choice; the full list is above. Most readers start with The Collected Stories.
- What is William Trevor's last book?
- Last Stories (2018).
- What is William Trevor's most famous book?
- The Collected Stories (1991) is William Trevor's most widely read book.
Authors like William Trevor
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.