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A review by snoakes7001
Trio by William Boyd
5.0
Trio is split into three sections: Duplicity, Surrender & Escape and the story concerns a trio of characters navigating phases of their lives where these themes loom large.
The action is set in Brighton in the late sixties where the improbably titled movie Emily Bracegirdle's Extremely Useful Ladder to the Moon is being filmed and our three duplicitous protagonists are all linked to this production. Elfrida Wing is married to the film's director, Reggie Tipton. She is a successful novelist but is suffering paralysing writer's block and hasn't published anything for ten years. Talbot Kydd, the producer, maintains a secret apartment his wife is totally unaware of and Anny Viklund, the film's star, is having a passionate affair with her leading man.
I'd forgotten what a great storyteller William Boyd is - the plot rattles along in a somewhat madcap fashion, the sixties setting makes for a well constructed backdrop and the characters are rounded and sympathetic even when they are working against their own self interest. As the novel progresses, events in their personal lives snowball until they each reach a point where only drastic action will end their turmoil.
The action is set in Brighton in the late sixties where the improbably titled movie Emily Bracegirdle's Extremely Useful Ladder to the Moon is being filmed and our three duplicitous protagonists are all linked to this production. Elfrida Wing is married to the film's director, Reggie Tipton. She is a successful novelist but is suffering paralysing writer's block and hasn't published anything for ten years. Talbot Kydd, the producer, maintains a secret apartment his wife is totally unaware of and Anny Viklund, the film's star, is having a passionate affair with her leading man.
I'd forgotten what a great storyteller William Boyd is - the plot rattles along in a somewhat madcap fashion, the sixties setting makes for a well constructed backdrop and the characters are rounded and sympathetic even when they are working against their own self interest. As the novel progresses, events in their personal lives snowball until they each reach a point where only drastic action will end their turmoil.