Felicia's Journey

Felicia's Journey
Felicia is unmarried, pregnant, and penniless. She steals away from a small Irish town and drifts through the industrial English Midlands, searching for the boyfriend who left her. Instead she meets up with Mr. Hilditch, who is looking for a new friend to join the five other girls in his Memory Lane. But strange, sad, terrifying tricks of chance unravel both his and Felicia's delusions in a story that will magnetize fans of Alfred Hitchcock and Ruth Rendell, even as it resonates with William Trevor's own "impeccable strength and piercing profundity" (The Washington Post Book World).

"A page-turner marked by brilliant psychological suspense."-- The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Perfectly executed and chilling. . . . A sad and oddly moving tale of lost opportunities and misplaced hopes."-- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
A New York Times Notable Book
Winner of the Whitbread Fiction Prize and the Sunday Express Prize
Felicia's Journey appeared on the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Newsday, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists
Customer Review: stealthily grows on you
Psychopathic predator preys on naive, desperate, young woman searching for the boyfriend who deserted her and her unborn child. At first I thought that was pretty much going to be the gist of Felicia's Journey, with perhaps some literary embellishments thrown in to dress it up. After a couple of chapters I began to be drawn in by the way the author was steadily revealing more and more about the two main characters by sharing with us their thoughts and memories. About halfway through I realized I was hooked and that this book was much subtler and deeper than I had first thought. It becomes a steadily more intense study of obsession, delusion, and self-deception, not only of predator but also prey. One aspect of the novel that added interest for me was its depiction of the manners and culture of the English and Irish. In her native Ireland Felicia receives no help or sympathy from anyone,including her family. In England she is constantly subjected to rudeness, contempt or indifference at the hands of salesclerks, policemen and other functionaries whose job it should be to render assistance. The entire environment seems to be alien and hostile. Practically the only kindness shown to Felicia is by street people and the predator, Mr. Hilditch, who despite his sinister intentions, actually shows a certain amount of genuine concern for Felicia's predicament. Though I found the developing story fascinating in its continuing revelation of deeper facets of character, I was prepared for it to end either in a very negative, unsatisfying way, or a positive, unbelievable way. I will only say that I thought the ending was somewhat surprising and unconventional, but some may still find it unsatisfying. More than just a suspense story, this seemed to me also a meditation on the different manifestations or expressions of humanity; the extremes of good and evil, and the mixtures in between; the shattering surprises that may come with self-revelation; and how an awful and austere state of grace can come as a result of loss and suffering. I would have rated it five stars except it seemed to me that in a few places there was a very subtle lack of credibility. But I liked the style of writing, and certainly recommend the book, although it reveals a phase of life not too pleasant to contemplate.
Customer Review: Supremely Literate Horror Novel
William Trevor's FELICIA's JOURNEY is a short novel that delivers a great deal. The title character, Felicia, is a teenager from Ireland to whom life has not been kind. When we first meet her she's been laid off from a job in a canning factory, and is keeping house for her not particularly caring widowed father, two older brother and her ancient great grandmother. We learn Felicia has always been considered gawky and has not had much male attention leaving her prime to be seduced by Johnny, a young man from her home town who has immigrated to England but is home on a brief visit to his bitter mother. Not surprisingly Johnny leaves town and Felicia discovers herself pregnant. Desperate but still believing Johnny cares for her Felicia steals money from her great grandmother for fare and other necessities and takes a ferry to England to search for her seducer. It soon becomes obvious to the reader and eventually to Felicia that Johnny has lied to her on several levels. Felicia soon is befriended by the other major character in the novel, Mr. Hilditch, and the suspense/thriller aspect of the novel begins. Horrible as some of the things Mr. Hilditch has done are he is not a character we are without sympathy for especially after we discover some horrors in his own past. Some may say Felicia is somewhat of a blank but we know so much about her family circumstances and training in Ireland that we can pretty much guess what she is thinking and feeling without being explicitly told. This is a dark but expertly crafted read with an unexpected but still unhappy end for the heroine.