Three Letters

by Josephine Cox

A little boy's journey and a desperate search for a place to call home.

Eight year old Casey's mother Ruth is a cruel woman, with a weakness for other women's husbands, but Casey's father is gentle and hard-working. Although Tom has long suspected his wife of having affairs, he has chosen to turn a blind eye to keep the peace. But then he receives devastating news which means that their lives must change forever.

A broken man, Tom is made to fight for his son, determined to keep him safe. But, when fate takes a hand, life can be unbearably cruel, and Casey is made to remember his father's prophetic words ...
'It's done. The dice is thrown, and nobody wins.'
But, unbeknown to Casey, there are three letters penned by his father, that may just change his destiny forever ...

Genres: Fiction, Novels

427 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Josephine Cox was born in Blackburn, one of ten children. At the age of sixteen, Josephine met and married her husband Ken, and had two sons. When the boys started school, she decided to go to college and eventually gained a place at university but was unable to take this up as it would have meant living away from home. Instead, she went into teaching – and started to write her first full-length novel. She won the ‘Superwoman of Great Britain’ Award, for which her family had secretly entered her, at the same time as her novel was accepted for publication. She is now a No.1 bestselling author with over 40 books to her name.

She wrote dark psychological thrillers under the name Jane Brindle.

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth and Tom are in a loveless marriage and have been for quite some time. Tom has had his suspicions that his wife has been having affairs behind his back, but Tom has chosen to turn a blind eye to it entirely. Tom is a hard working man who provides for his family. Their eight year old son, Casey means the world to Tom and there isn't anything he wouldn't do for him. Ruth on the other hand couldn't care less for Casey and is unloving, uncaring and very cruel towards Casey on a daily basis.

Tom decides things must change, but just when he's about to make changes for him and Casey he is hit with a bombshell that will shatter his world into a million pieces.

This was an enjoyable read, but unfortunately for me, I felt the story dragged out a bit too much and there were a few predictable moments throughout this story. Well worth reading if you're a fan of this author.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

On browsing the book section of a local store, I came across Three Letters. The blurb made it sound a good read, so I bought it. The read started well. I could visualize characters and felt drawn into their lives....seeing, feeling and being emotionally involved as the story unfolded.. I was so looking forward to seeing how events developed. However, as the story progressed, I felt it changed from an intriguing read into a fairy tale. From a promising beginning, which left me wondering what would happen next, I felt the last few chapters became predictable and the conclusion rushed, - too neatly resolved and rosy to be credible. I appreciate reading fiction is escapism, but I felt the ending was an insult to an intelligent reader. In conclusion, what started out as a great read ended up a more like a penny romance. Josephine Cox has great skill in weaving words together in such a way you feel you are actually involved in her story, so it was sad the book delivered less than the blurb promised.

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually love this author but i have to say i was really disappointed with this book. It has the potential for a great story. It is about a family ripped apart by betrayal and suicide. It was all too nice though and everything fell into place even some far fetched areas of the stories and it just seemed to ramble a lot of the time. Probabaly one of the worst ooks i have read in a while :(

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was engaging, but as many other readers said, wrapped up too neatly. Also there were bits that didn't agree from near the beginning to near the end. E.g. Steve says he regrets leaving the girl near the beginning. But it turns out it was only a one nighter, and he was told she had moved on. Also at the end, we don't get an explanation of how Steve knows the whole story of Casey & Tom & Ruth when he's speaking to Ruth. Unfortunately, not inspired to read any more Josephine Cox.

[Elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, that's a good few hours of my life I won't get back. I was very disappointed by this book, finding the story completely far-fetched and the dialogue unrealistic.

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Absolutely fantastic, had me riveted all the way through. Some sad stuff but an interesting storyline. I hated Ruth at the start and was hoping the book wasn’t going where I thought it might, grateful that it didn’t. A fabulous, gorgeous, perfect ending.

Highly recommended.

*Book #63/72 of my 2019 coffee table to-read challenge, cont. 2020

[Phi · Rating 1 out of 5]

the most slowest book ever... i didnt even bother completing it.. the story's too dull and frankly i really didnt care about the characters that mush to see where they ended with whatever they were going through..


ruth was a weird character to start with... i understood her story (whatever i read of it) but please come on it was a little exaggerated.. i mean who wouldnt like Casey.. hes a small 8-9 year old boy.. hes adorable.. no body can be that cold of heart..

whatever though.. this book was a real drag.. definitely recommending it to no one!!

[Mandy Joubert · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the beginning of the book I felt sad for Tom and Cassey. I hated the way Ruth treated them both. And my heart broke when Tom did the awful thing he did.
The story had a good beginning but towards the middle it became sappy and fairy tale like at the end. I did not like the way the book ended I felt like Tom was just forgotten and Ruth just got her happy ending when she really did not deserve it.

[Jenny Cattanach · Rating 1 out of 5]

I see I've read up to page 34. end of chapter 1. As I prepared to get ready for bed last night I thought, 'nice, I can settle back and read for a bit before going to sleep', a habit I have had for years.
As I brushed my teeth, my thoughts were something along the lines of - what book am I on now?
'Oh yeah, that one. Three letters. Darn' and I was disappointed. I actually was not looking forward to tucking up into bed with a book! Unthinkable!
I hate giving up on a book. I've only done it a few times before. But life is too short. Maybe one day I'll fancy taking up a substandard Catherine Cookson and trying to care about the paper doll thin characters in it. Then I'll hunt out this. But for now I'm going to put it in a bag and donate to a charity shop and start another.

[Roxie Gallinger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Josephine always writes a great book but, this one was very repetitive like she didn't know what more to write about, very disappointed

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure why I really bought this, it's not my sort of book. A junk shop was selling four books for three quid and I grabbed this as an afterthought to make up the four.

I'm currently struggling to read two other books so I took this of my bookcase a couple of days ago and plunged in. It's unnecessarily long, though with simple enough prose and grammatically ok and I suppose I refused to be defeated by it, despite the over repetitive emoting and too many irritatingly improbable coincidences. Back stories are ladled on for every character, even irrelevant ones. Despite the 424 pages I was able to finish it in a couple of days because I skimmed a lot of pages, without missing anything important. It needs very firmly editing to tighten it up and the final co-incidence in the graveyard stretched my credulity to breaking point.

I won't make any spoilers, I know that plenty of people do enjoy this kind of book and I'm happy for them. I'll know not to read any more by this author. I say all this knowing she is a successful writer, so who am I to criticise!

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this story so repetitive! It has the potential to be a good read but was so tedious with all the repetition. I almost didn't finish reading it and when I got to the end it was so unrealistic and wrapped up so quickly. I have read other Josephine Cox's books that I have enjoyed but not this one.

[Nora Millar(Glenn Millar) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing

I found this very predictable and extremely repetitive. The same opinions and thoughts were repeated over and over. The book would be much better if condensed to avoid them. I found myself scanning the pages quickly to get to the end. Anyone with any sense would probably have stopped reading.

[Patti Mullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book . Will definitely read more from this author !!

[Rosemarie Brennan]

weak ending

[Ian Mcnamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josephine Cox is one of my favourite authors, there is not one book i've read by her that i've not liked.

I remember reading this when it first came out and loved it then. My second reading was no different in fact i'd say it impacted me more. This was a very emotional book with a lot of heartache and things to work through.

Casey was a wonderful character and my favourite character in the whole of the book, he was a lovely little boy with a huge heart and the way he looked after his family was magical. He was so caring and for an eight year old shown an amazing amount of maturity.

The character who ahad the biggest journey to go through was Ruth Casie's mother. I did not like her character at first and thought she was evil and spiteful the way she tret casey and tom, however as we learn about her past we begin to understand why things were so difficult for her. It was lovely to see how she changed throughout the book and became a better person. It's lovely how the death of one man caused so much heart ache yet brought healing to a lot of the characters.

Steve's wife was a horrible woman, how she could do what she did to the person who was suppose to be her best friend was revaulting and caused a lot of people to be unnecessarly hurt. Steve again was a wonderful character and really did everything he could to help everyone in the book.

All I can say is this is one of my favourite Josephine Cox novels and although I love all of them equally this one did bring my emotions out due to how sad it was. I love the fact that all the characters went on a journey of discovery to find themselves and all used the tradgody to become better people apart from Connie.

[Shirley Dawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure I've ever given such a low rating but in my opinion, I really don't think it deserves more. I've read a few of Josephine Cox's books over the years and after every one I do wonder if I really enjoyed them. I know she was a successful author but I really don't like her style and more so in this one. I've said before that she often writes in an immature way with much over-describing as you would explain to a child. She repeats things over and over again, in fact some of it seemed like rambling, I found it really tiresome.

The characters were something else. Sickly sweet I would describe some of them and certainly not credible. The comical absurdity of how she portrays the boy as absolutely perfect is laughable, I'm sure no one like that has ever existed! The same with the little girl and the dialogue with both of them is completely unnatural and unrealistic. It all sounded so false.

The story itself was okayish but spoilt with ridiculous coincidences. I think this will be last one of hers I'll read.

[Arline Westgarth · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I have read by this author got straight into it and couldn't put it down. I cried when Casey is told what his dad has done and how he and his grandfather must carry on without him in life. His mother Ruth is a awful mother and wife and you just want her to love Casey and wonder how she could he so cruel to the little boy and his dad. The book was going so well until Ruths real love and Casey real daddy show up unbeknown to anyone but then you could see what was going to happen and then the ending seemed rushed and the author a few years into a couple of pages near the end of the book. So slightly disappointed at the ending of the book.

[What to read next ....... · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of Casey, a young boy left devastated when his father takes his own life and his mother cruelly turns her back on him.
Casey a talented young musician goes to live with his Grand Bob.
Without giving anymore of this story away, l will end by saying Josephine Cox is a master storyteller who brings her characters to life.

A brilliant read a tearjerker and tragic misunderstandings, forgiveness and betrayal and the way the way each character comes through.

A ten out of ten an easy read and very touching.

[Laris D'Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book even though it's fiction but it's somehow the reality of the society we live in ie. married to someone and in love with someone else. And the poor little child who goes through a lot more trouble is really the harsh truth in our society. I really didn't like the part where Tom had to choose the wrong option of suicide but maybe that was the only option he had so no judgement. But I really liked the book because such situations are not brought up in light even in 21st century. People need to be more mature to accept love and family.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to have very long chapters, so was constantly having to put it down mid flow.
I fell in love with Bob, Casey, Tom and dolly and found i wanted to be apart of there lives and it was all quite emotional. Ruth was definitely the bad guy which I had no sympathy for.
I enjoyed the book but found the last few chapters became to fairy tale, happy ever after for Ruth, which I struggled to believe. I thought the whole story was wrapped up far to quick.

[EILEEN SHEPPARD · Rating 4 out of 5]

A born storyteller

This book had a bit of everything, the story of a family at odds with each other. A devoted dad, a loving son and a wife/mother who hated them both. It had me laughing and nearly in tears in equal measures, I loved it. I would highly recommend this book to all. A very good read.

[Sue Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three Letters

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end and would recommend it to other readers who follow Josephine Cox who I hope will also find they cannot
put it down.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audio book. The Reader Carole Boyd made the book. The author tends to go on and on about stuff but I love English stories

[juliet stocks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart warming

Lovely story, full of amazing characters, full of emotion. From the beginning you are drawn in to the story and can't wait to read more.

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's a good read but as always, it's seems rushing to end the story in last two chapters

[Elizabeth Henry]

It was reasonably good, if somewhat drawn out and then the end seemed rushed

[Anne Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

A really good story, very well told,at times I shed a year whilst reading this story it was a very good read

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant emotional read where you can relate to the characters feelings

[Ni Made Noviana · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started out as heartfelt, but halfway through the novel it was pretty much predictable and the conclusion at the end was so easy and didn't take that much explanation.