Can a short story do it all? Can it close in on an intense moment of feeling and dig down to illuminate the psychological whys and wherefores and reach out to touch on themes that lie far beyond the strictly personal? And can it do all this while seeming as spontaneous as gossip, as uncomfortably convincing as an overheard confession on a crosstown bus?

The answer is a resounding, grateful yes—as long as William Trevor is doing the storytelling, and then only sometimes…. [Lovers of Their Time deserves] the broadest of audiences, especially since over half of [the collection] offers William Trevor at his many-layered best.

Not that Trevor's slightly less ambitious tales are unsuccessful. Far from it. "Flights of Fancy" calls on the familiar figure of the plain, virginal, and self-sufficient middle-aged spinster—a mainstay of sensitive British fiction—but casts her in an odd and...