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Trio cover art

Trio

Written by: William Boyd
Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers
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Publisher's Summary

A rollicking novel with a dark undertow, set around three unforgettable individuals and a doomed movie set - from the award-winning, best-selling author of Any Human Heart 

A producer. A novelist. An actress. It's summer 1968 - a time of war and assassinations, protests and riots. While the world is reeling, our trio is involved in making a disaster-plagued, Swingin' Sixties British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives. As the movie shoot zigs and zags, these layers of secrets become increasingly more untenable. Pressures build inexorably. The FBI and CIA get involved. Someone is going to crack - or maybe they all will. From one of Britain's best loved writers comes an exhilarating, tender novel - by turns hilarious and heartbreaking - that asks the vital questions: What makes life worth living? And what do you do if you find it isn't?

©2021 William Boyd (P)2021 Random House Audio

What the critics say

"A rollicking escape from today’s soul-crushing social and political turmoil.” (Ellen Akins, Washington Post)

“Boyd winks at the idiosyncrasies and vulgarities specific to each character’s métier, and at the precarious process of artistic creation.... This novel proceeds at a brisk clip.... With tart humor.” (The New Yorker

“The characters are wonderfully written and I loved escaping to the gossipy world of the film set.” (Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month) 

What listeners say about Trio

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Trio triumph

Those familiar with William Boyd will recognize some of his stylistic methods including using defining episodes in history (in this case the year 1968) and interweaving characters, who are all linked in this story by the production of an art house film by a pretentious wannabe auteur. The choice of Brighton as the backdrop is also symbolic as an iconic place in literature and time (Brighton Rock by Graham Greene, many other authors, vibrant LGBT community, decaying British seaside resort town vibe etc.). The typical Boyd themes of regret, redemption, tragedy and melancholia come through the lives of the three (no surprise) protagonists Elfriede, Talbot and Annie. There are excellent allusions to many literary, artistic, cinematic, musical and 60's cultural themes. Boyd explores the class divide using portrayals of society dinners and concerts, seedy pubs and various con men. Love and complex relationships, white collar crime, terrorism and scaffolding hardware terminology also come into play. I couldn't help thinking Janet Headstone was a fictionalized version of Janet Street-Porter and Annie (Viklund) was a fantasy version of Alicia Vikander. Some of the shady bit part actors sounded like they were modeled on stars of the famous British Carry-On films of the 60's. Overall the characters were wonderfully drawn, as usual, by Boyd, even the minor ones like Ken Kincaid.
I'd not heard Imani Jade Powers before, she was fantastic! OK, her Edinburgh brogue was a bit dodgy, but she has so many other skills that the accuracy of the accents didn't really matter. A brilliant, natural narrator with a calm, soothing voice able to convey multiple emotions with subtle vocal changes.

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