The William Trevor Reader: “The Paradise Lounge”
The set-up for “The Paradise Lounge” is simple but effective. Beatrice and her lover have stopped for the night in the titular lounge, a shabby hotel bar in the middle of nowhere, to consummate the last night of their affair. They are observed by a regular, the elderly Mrs. Doheny, who can tell they are not married, that they are conducting a tryst. Mrs. Doheny—dressed up, make-up duly applied—is there to meet, as she ritually
