I loved the tone and the setting for the novel, it is very evocative of the sixties. The tree characters we follow are all fighting internal demons that only we are the reader are fully aware of. My favourite character was Elfrida as her story is wryly observed, funny and uplifting. I think this will be runaway success.

Like Jonathan Coe (Mr Wilder and Me), William Boyd has chosen this autumn to write about the making of a film and, coincidentally, both films seem to represent a similar end of the road for the great days of filmmaking. Talbot Kydd is William Boyd’s producer and the film’s locations are set around Beachy Head which makes for an attractive location but everything else seems to be in a permanent state of crisis. Talbot spends more time fire-fighting than filmmaking. His director, the self-styled Rodrigo Tipton does most of the filming when he is not trying to change the plans, alter the script, seduce the writer or cope with stars who don’t want to work together. Talbot is married to Naomi but it’s almost a marriage of convenience where they maintain their distance and much of the film is about Talbot trying to come to terms at the end of the 1960s with the changes in the law about homosexuality and his own covert leanings in that direction. Rodrigo’s wife, Elfrida, is a failing novelist and alcoholic trying to sort out her own life and exorcise her own demons. Another significant character is Anna Viklund, the star of the film who gets into trouble because of her estranged husband who is on the run after being imprisoned for terrorist activities. Then, there are the financial games being played around the edges of the film by Talbot’s business partner. It is a complex and interwoven plot but that is how William Boyd likes to work, on a large canvas with plenty of detail and collateral description. There’s some nice evocation of the period along the way. In the end, and frankly against the odds, the film gets made and the loose ends in the plot come to their various conclusions. There are winners and losers but there is also the sense that the characters have had to come up against -and face up to -the kind of people that they actually are rather than hiding behind celluloid and fakery. Clearly, for William Boyd, the late 1960s were a time when you had to stop pretending, and when frothy romance was replaced by gritty realism. Trio is an entertaining, multi-layered story and if it isn’t William Boyd at his best he can still tell a good yarn. It is well worth a read. (Trio is published by Viking. Thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for a fair review.)

I really enjoyed this book. The first book I’ve read by William Boyd and would definitely read some of his others. Trio, set in the 60s, follows the personal lives of 3 main characters that are all connected to a movie in production. I thought it was well written and had some solid characters. Thank you to #NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. #Trio #WilliamBoyd

3.5* I love a good book by William Boyd. He is an excellent writer and storyteller, who has a tremendous way with words. An author who can create an enthralling verbal experience. It is the Summer of 1968 and a film is being made in Brighton. The eponymous trio of the title – a producer, a novelist and an actress – are involved. (Incidentally, I have just read Mr Wilder & Me by Jonathan Coe – set across Europe – which is in similar vein; a bit like buses, none for a while and then two come along in quick succession set in similar time periods with the making of a movie at their heart). It is certainly an easy read, with delightful wry and humorous touches. The film is titled Emily Bracegirdle’s Extremely Useful Ladder to the Moon. I think in general the author went out of his way to make up bonkers names for his characters, including a cast of minor characters who have a wealth of odd career choices between them. Talbot Kydd (why not use ‘y’ for a bit of extra flamboyance?) is the producer, Rodrigo (Reggie) Tipton is the director and married to novelist Elfrida Wing (who hasn’t written anything in a while and is rather good at mixing her drinks and storing her alcohol booty in a Sarson’s Vinegar bottle). Anny Viklund is the American star of the film (who was married to Cornell Weekes and who is now under investigation for domestic terrorism back in the USA). Anny (with a ‘y’, of course) is conducting an illicit affair with her co-star with Troy Blaze. With all these oddly spelled names, my autocorrect, whilst writing this review, went into overdrive, which was rather irksome but reflects the skewed spirit of this novel. The characters’ stories interlace, often improbably but with delightful observation. There are indeed many secrets to be revealed. There are, too, nuanced interactions, period correct facets and overall there is, at times, quite a summery – almost carefree – feel to the whole narrative. I think, for me, I struggled to engage with the characters and their stories, although part of me could stand back and see that there were so many good elements. I guess it felt a little like absurd cinema had descended on real life and it just didn’t feel sufficiently anchored to be really immersive and engrossing.

I hadn't read any of William Boyd's stories since 'The Ice Cream War', which I found quite disturbing, until 'Trio' was handed to me by a writer at the end of her creative writing class. It was an inspired loan. The writing is clever, mature, insightful; I've come away with nothing but admiration. Given that summary one might wonder why the fifth star is missing: these days I reserve that accolade for books that have genuinely changed the way I think about something and this one, good as it is, hasn't done that. Moreover, the number of French colloquialisms I had to look up tended towards the tedious. It's set in 1968, which I remember reasonably well from my teenage years. The setting is, however, outside my experience: the ins and outs and peripheral ups and downs of movie-making. The story is full of deceit, betrayal, revenge and all those other all-too-human traits. It also attempts to get into the thoughts of an alcoholic, of being depressed and suicidal, and the struggles of being gay in the year after the law on homosexual acts had changed. The plot develops slowly, each group of characters occupying their own spaces within the story arc; we're almost half way through the book before they occupy the same space for one solitary evening at a glitzy party. Thereafter our 'slow burn' story moves towards a series of resolutions - some associated with a distinct change in fortune - and the book ends gracefully, rather like a leaky balloon deflating overnight. I liked this novel; I recommend it.