Masterful & gripping, French novel THREE hits all the right notes

A masterful and epic tale, Valérie Perrin’s Three – translated from French by Hildegarde Serle – is a gripping story. The author weaves the past and present together effortlessly, its title referring to a trio of friends on whom the plot centres.

Adrien, Etienne and Nina’s friendship begins when they are placed in the same class at school. As the narrative jumps back in time delving into the events of the past, certain actions surrounding the three are explored, proving to have fateful consequences for many people living in the small French town. Love, loss and identity feature, highlighting the strong ties that have bound them and determined the different paths each has taken over the years.

Despite the epic and potentially daunting scale of the book, there are so many different strands to the narrative, and a continuous chain of events that never become tiring. It’s difficult to convey how brilliant this story is: the translation captures the essence of the book perfectly and it was a joy to read. Sometimes a book simply hits the right notes, perhaps read it at the right moment in time – and Three for me, has proved to be one of those books.