Sophisticated, mature and richly atmospheric, a debut novel about three young people navigating the risks and possibilities of intimacy
For fans of Andre Aciman, Deborah Levy and the Penguin European Writers series
'Smart, elegant and moving... [A] heady mix of hope and nostalgia, of desire and regret, of new love and lost love' Sunday Times
'Remarkably assured... Sharp, vividly imagined and affecting, [it] intrigues and captivates' Irish Times
'The love child of Normal People and Brideshead Revisited... Sublime and elegiac' Francesca Reece
Thora, August and Hugo come from different worlds - one an art school dreamer, one a wealthy scion of the old elite, and one an ordinary boy from out of town. But over the course of two sky-blue summers in Stockholm, they are drawn together magnetically.
The novel opens years later, when Hugo, long estranged from Thora and August, is visited by their daughter - who has questions about her parents which she believes Hugo can answer - and the memories of those luminous days come flooding back.
Modern yet timeless, poignant and euphoric, The Trio is a novel about the path not taken, the people we might have become, and the relationships which shape and haunt us long after they come to a close.
'An international success before even being published, The Trio is a novel that stands well above the hype... Elegiac, bittersweet, [with] the golden shimmer of nostalgia' Gefle Dagblad
'Mature and confident, delicate and eloquent, a study in intimacy... The Trio creates a greedy sensation within the reader of constantly wanting to pick up a book and read just a few more pages... Timeless and universal' Kult Magasin
'Johanna Hedman should definitely expect to win prizes' Upsala Nya Tidning
Johanna Hedman was born in Stockholm in 1993. She holds a Master's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies and she has lived and worked in Paris, southern India and New York, where she interned for the Swedish UN delegation. The Trio is her first novel.
Title: The Trio: Johanna Hedman
Author: Hedman, Johanna
ISBN: 9780241551660
Binding:
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication Date: 2022-07-07
Number of Pages: 336
Weight: 0.2151 kg
A smart, elegant and moving novel, all the more impressive for it being Johanna Hedman's debut... The stylish emotional distance of Normal People is present here... Hedman's characters keep us at a tantalising arm's length most of the time, and that makes moments of raw emotion all the more powerful... It was moments like these that convinced me to flick back to the first page when I finished The Trio, hoping to re-enter the heady mix of hope and nostalgia, of desire and regret, of new love and lost love that Hedman has so skilfully evoked * The Times *
Sharp, vividly imagined and affecting in a way that both intrigues and captivates the reader... The sense of detached disillusionment is familiar from the fictional worlds of Sally Rooney's stranded millennials, but Hedman is remarkably assured in giving voice and depth to characters who see distance as a curse not a consolation * Irish Times *
Wonderful. A celebration of real friendship, ill-fated love and the relationships which loom large over a lifetime. Fans of Sally Rooney will adore this excellent novel, which has garnered rave reviews * The Bookseller *
Emotionally acute and absorbing... Hedman has an almost tactile descriptive precision and a keen eye for the plangent phrase. Wholly memorable and enjoyable * Country & Town House *
The Trio is like the love child of Normal People and Brideshead Revisited. A sublime and elegiac mediation on love, intimacy, freedom and jealousy, it elegantly explores the gulf between our interior lives and the personas we perform - and between ourselves and other people. Hedman's writing (and Josefsson's stunning translation) is staggeringly beautiful. Vivid, effortless, and perceptive to a molecular degree -- Francesca Reece, author of 'Voyeur'
Delicate and beguiling... The Trio spans from Berlin to London to Paris as the [characters] continually renegotiate who they each are to each other, questions of ownership and privilege floating in the background of summers which feel both fleeting and endless * Esquire *
An international success before even being published, The Trio is a novel that stands well above the hype... Elegiac, bittersweet, [with] the golden shimmer of nostalgia, it is a story about big emotions
* Gefle Dagblad *
Mature and confident, delicate and eloquent, a study in intimacy . . . Timeless and universal
* Kult Magasin *
Full of verve, nostalgia, longing and the claustrophobic euphoria of being in the world with the people you love, this gorgeous novel whisks you along with it; you have no choice but to gratefully follow -- Lara Williams, author of 'Supper Club'
Vigorous and vivid, wistful and engaging. Johanna Hedman should definitely expect to win prizes
* Upsala Nya Tidning *
An acute, eloquent and bittersweet debut... There may be an August Prize nomination!
* Femina *
An unusual debut, confident and intriguing, [by] a mature and gifted writer. The implicit nostalgia works its magic [in this] story of the time when life first gains colour and shape
* Expressen *
The ending leaves a stinging sensation [asking] questions of what really becomes important in hindsight, what we remember and how we remember it, and, not least why we become who we are as a consequence of our choices
* SR Kulturnytt *
Stylishly and elegantly composed
* Goeteborgs-Posten *
How on earth is it possible that Johanna Hedman is a debutant? It feels as if I've seen the future of Swedish writing
-- Alex Schulman, author of 'The Survivors'
An absolutely fantastic debut novel
-- Fredrik Backman, author of 'A Man Called Ove'
