Trio

by William Boyd

A producer. A novelist. An actress.

It is summer in 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. While the world is reeling our trio is involved in making a rackety Swingin' Sixties British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives.

As the film is shot, with its usual drastic ups and downs, so does our trio's private, secret world begin to take over their public one. Pressures build inexorably - someone's going to crack. Or maybe they all will.

From one of Britain's bestselling and best loved writers comes an exhilarating, tender novel that asks the vital questions: what makes life worth living? And what do you do if you find it isn't?

_______________________________________________

PRAISE FOR WILLIAM BOYD

'The ultimate in immersive fiction . . . magnificent' Sunday Times

'A finely judged performance: a deft and resonant alchemy of fact and fiction, of literary myth and imagination' Guardian

'William Boyd has probably written more classic books than any of his contemporaries' Daily Telegraph

'Simply the best realistic storyteller of his generation' Sebastian Faulks

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Book Club, British Literature, Audiobook

342 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2020

About the author

Note: William^^Boyd

Of Scottish descent, Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana on 7th March, 1952 and spent much of his early life there and in Nigeria where his mother was a teacher and his father, a doctor. Boyd was in Nigeria during the Biafran War, the brutal secessionist conflict which ran from 1967 to 1970 and it had a profound effect on him.

At the age of nine years he attended Gordonstoun school, in Moray, Scotland and then Nice University (Diploma of French Studies) and Glasgow University (MA Hons in English and Philosophy), where he edited the Glasgow University Guardian. He then moved to Jesus College, Oxford in 1975 and completed a PhD thesis on Shelley. For a brief period he worked at the New Statesman magazine as a TV critic, then he returned to Oxford as an English lecturer teaching the contemporary novel at St Hilda's College (1980-83). It was while he was here that his first novel, A Good Man in Africa (1981), was published.

Boyd spent eight years in academia, during which time his first film, Good and Bad at Games, was made. When he was offered a college lecturership, which would mean spending more time teaching, he was forced to choose between teaching and writing.

Boyd was selected in 1983 as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists' in a promotion run by Granta magazine and the Book Marketing Council. He also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in the same year, and is also an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has been presented with honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of St. Andrews, Stirling and Glasgow. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.

Boyd has been with his wife Susan since they met as students at Glasgow University and all his books are dedicated to her. His wife is editor-at-large of Harper's Bazaar magazine, and they currently spend about thirty to forty days a year in the US. He and his wife have a house in Chelsea, West London but spend most of the year at their chateau in Bergerac in south west France, where Boyd produces award-winning wines.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Boyd's latest novel is set in Brighton and Paris amidst the global political and social turbulence of 1968 and its impact on the eponymous trio. There is the gay ex-military officer in WW2 and now film producer, Talbot Kydd, a stereotypically diffident English gentleman, a famous 28 year old American actress with an unfortunate choice in older men, Anny Viklund, and novelist Elfrida Wing, once lauded as the new Virginia Woolf, married to philandering film director, Reggie 'Rodrigo' Tipton, who hasn't written anything in a decade, drowning her personal dissatisfactions in alcohol. All have their own specific demons, issues with identity, a gap between their outer selves with their inner lives, connecting sparingly with each other. We follow the trajectory of their summer in Brighton as events conspire to challenge their perceptions of who they are and how they react to the pressures and endeavour to respond to the inner turbulence that arises.

Talbot's gay life is all kept secret, button downed, and below the radar, he is married to Naomi and has two children, feeling himself out of step with the more self confident and assured members of the gay community in the wake of the decriminalisation of their sexuality, with the existence of openly gay clubs, such as The Icebox. As producer, he finds himself facing a plethora of issues on the Ladder to the Moon film set, film sets and the industry are notoriously dysfunctional by nature, with numerous players with their own agendas, those wanting a slice of the action, the vagaries of the actors, corruption, theft, ostentatious and lavish parties, and other constant everyday issues that arise. There are further complications with a business partner who wants to swindle Talbot, others who see him as an irrelevance, prompting him to question where his future lies.

Engaging in a covert sexual affair with her film co-star, a pop star, Toby, this makes Anny happy, it makes a change from her more normal sexual liaisons with older men. The divorced Anny may be a famous film star, but she has little personal agency, power or control of her life, relying as she does on Equanil and other pills to provide an equilibrium that is otherwise out of her reach. The return of her ex-husband, Cornell Weekes, a political idealist, now a wanted escaped fugitive having committed bombing outrages, turns her life upside down. She ends up escaping the trickiest of situations with the FBI wanting to interview her, going to Paris to her older philosopher boyfriend, Jaques Soldat, in whom she puts her trust, creating havoc on the movie set. Elfrida feels that she is breaking her writing impasse as she embarks on a new novel, The Last Day of Virgina Woolf, only to suffer from delusions, hallucinations and psychosis as she keeps rewriting the beginning, can she find a way out of her increasingly troubled situation?

Boyd gives his characters a compassionate tender humanity, their personal confusions and struggles resonate with the complexity and turmoil of times that they attempt to negotiate their way through to a new future and new identity. There is wit, black humour, and charm in the narrative, chaotic situations that often tip over into farce and comedy. It is the characters that hold centre stage and held my interest as they flounder in their own particular ways, although I connected less with Anny than with the gentle Talbot and the raging alcoholic that is Elfrida. This is a wonderfully engrossing and fun historical read on the complications of life and identity that I think will appeal to many readers. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.

[Angela M · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars generously bumped up to 3.
Maybe it’s just my mood. I wasn’t crazy about the last book I read either. Maybe it’s just that this author is not for me . Maybe I’m missing something. There certainly are some heavy things here in the secrets that the characters keep - alcoholism, drug addiction, adultery, the difficulties of a closeted gay man in the 60’s . As serious as these things are, as I moved from chapter to chapter, I felt as if I was watching a soap opera and the depth of the story was lost for me. While this takes place in England, I couldn’t help but think of what was going on elsewhere in the world in 1968. There were a few mentions of the Vietnam War and one mention of Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Robert Kennedy.

Elfrida Wing is a novelist without a novel in 10 yrs, a closet drinker and wife of the philandering director of a movie being filmed in England in 1968. Talbot Kidd is the movie’s producer, a closeted gay man. Anny Viklund, the starring actress, is sleeping with a younger man, her costar, but in another relationship with an older man . Oh and her ex husband is a terrorist on the lam.

I ploughed through, not liking it much. If this wasn’t a buddy read with my good friends, I would have dropped it after the first 100 pages, but more than likely before that. There was just too much going on and I felt like it was all over the place as there is a cast of additional characters. I’m going to give it 2.5 stars, a rarity for me, but I will generously round up to 3. As much of a slough as this was for me, I was interested in Elfrida’s story line and wanted to know what would happen to her. There was at least that.

I read this with Diane and Esil as one of our monthly reads . I relied on them to shed some light on what this was about.


I received a copy of this book from Knopf through NetGalley.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always found William Boyd to be a wonderfully inventive writer, he seldom fails to grab me and haul me deeply into his stories. This book is set in Brighton, Sussex in 1968 and though it features a full cast of characters the spotlight falls mainly on three people: a film producer, an actress and a novelist. And from the moment Boyd drops in the adjective delightful I knew this was going to be a very English tale.

Talbot is middle-aged, balding and struggling to adapt to the realisation that his sexual preference is for the male of the species. He’s overseeing the making of a film with an improbable title and an unlikely plot. Anny is a star of the moment American actress cast as the female lead, she has a history of having relationships with older, troublesome men. Elfrida is the third main player and hasn’t written a book for ten years - she's currently finding solace in a bottle as her womanising husband is off directing the film.

We watch as this unsettled trio of characters are slowly unwrapped. Each is engrossed in fighting their own particular demons as the filming draws to its end. From time to time their paths cross. Slowly it begins to dawn on each of them that their own situation is becoming more complex and less resolved. It’s all very cleverly done with thoughtful, brilliantly crafted characters and spot on dialogue. Sometimes it’s sad and often it’s hilarious, a cross between a slowly unravelling tragedy and a old ‘Carry On’ film. I absolutely loved it!

My thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Brighton, 1968 and our trio of the title are all connected to the filming of a movie. Anny is a young, popular American actress, Talbot, our beleaguered producer and Elfrida, married to the director. There stories are told in alternating chapters and while there are many sidecharacters these are the main three. Elfridas story is the one I found the most interesting as she had been a best selling author, but was now suffering from writer's block and a myriad of other problems.

By its very nature, movie making is play acting, pretending, creating an alternate reality. Our three characters though are also pretending off set, their inner lives hidden, secrets kept, fractured souls. All have outward dramas, fears, insecurities that manifest in different ways. The story starts out slowly and draws us into the lives and feelings of these three. How they change, how they handle their challenges is the story. Some will succeed, others will struggle, not all happy endings.

McArthur Park, the song pops up here and there as a background to the time, the ridiculous lyrics of a cake being left out in the rain. Hated it then, dislike it now, but fitting as a time setter. This is my first book by this author and was also a read with Angela and Esil. We differed on our ratings for this one. Mine is the higher as I did get drawn into these peoples lives and the wonderful writing. This reads like a tragicomedy, a dark look at the people we hide inside our outward presence to the world. I thought the character development was outstanding. Slow start, many characters presented at the onset but soon picked up the grasp of things. This author clearly has control of his writing process and it shows.

ARC from Netgalley

[Ceecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A film being made in Brighton in 1968 connects our trio either directly or indirectly. Elfrida Wing is a novelist, her early successes earned her the accolade of being the ‘New Virginia Woolf’. She’s had writers block for ten years and so secretly (she hopes) drowns her sorrows, cleverly disguised vodka in a Sarsons vinegar bottle. She’s married to the philandering film director Reggie Tipton who prefers to go by Roderigo - we can understand why! The second of out trio is Talbot Kidd, a film producer of more than a dozen films, he’s married in name only. Our third is Anny Viklund, the American star of the brilliantly named film ‘Emily Bracegirdles extremely useful ladder to the moon’. The majority of the book looks at various forms of ‘Duplicity’ which the characters experience and the finale is their ‘Escape’.

What a BRILLIANT book. 1968 was a cataclysmic year historically, a watershed between the old and ‘the times that are a’changing’ of the new and the characters in the book reflect this perfectly. The events of that year are intrinsic to the storytelling and are woven into the narrative organically which I really like as its clever storytelling. There’s everything from laws legalising homosexuality which of course makes the Brighton setting especially pertinent which we view through Talbots eyes to anarchy which is demonstrated via Anny. She is divorced from a convicted anarchist who is her nemesis that comes back to haunt her and she is forced to flee the film set and escape to Paris. She sees evidence everywhere of the May riots and becomes an unwilling political victim for which she pays a high price. The characters feelings are conveyed well and at times this is very intense. I especially love Elfrida, she’s irreverent and funny and I enjoy her obsession with Virginia Woolf. Sadly she’s at the end of her tether but she finds rehabilitation and rejuvenation in an unlikely place. Talbot seems naive and not worldly wise and in many ways he isn’t but as his producer partner Yorgos discovers he’s nobody’s fool. The characterisation throughout is excellent, they are all vividly portrayed from the blousy colourful old school actors to the new of Anny and her co-star Troy Blaze. I love how Talbot keeps hearing snippets of Richard Harris’ version of MacArthur Park which is about losing a chapter of part of your life which reflects what happens to the trio.

Overall through the medium of the Brighton based film we have an excellent snapshot of an historic year. This is a clever and extremely well written book as you would expect from an author of the calibre of William Boyd. There are rich descriptions which capture the tumultuous times, the sex, drugs, political upheaval and the huge seismic change both politically and socially. The brilliant characters are an excellent vehicle for reflecting this important year. I loved it and this is one book I’ll remember for a long time. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House/Viking for the much appreciated ARC.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Trio” by William Boyd takes place in the summer of 1968, and while reading this fine novel, you are back there: 1968. The trio denotes the three main characters who are connected to a movie, well, the production of a movie entitled “Emily Bracegirdle’s Extremely Useful Ladder to the Moon.” How Boyd came up with that title…who knows. But it provides a silly backdrop to this character driven story.

Talbot Kydd, a producer of the film, is a closet gay man, married with two grown children. He has a secret life that film production allows. What I loved about Kydd’s character is all the challenges he faced trying to produce a movie with ditzy actors, selfish assistant producers, and diabolical film partners. Boyd certainly had fun writing Kydd, as he threw curve ball after curve ball to Kydd and had Kydd figure out a way to make the movie work.

Next is Elfrida Wing, disappointed wife of the director of the film. She was a successful novelist, but hasn’t produced a novel in ten years. Writer’s block has spawned a bit of a drinking problem in Elfrida. She actually hides her vodka in vinegar bottles! Who thinks of that?? Her inner musings are hilarious. We are with her on her writing journey, or more accurately, her writing farces. She cannot complete a full paragraph nor an introduction.

And our third of the trio is twenty-something Anny Viklund. Her ex-husband who is also an escaped prisoner on the lam, is hitting her up for money so he can abscond to some third world country. The Feds get involved and it becomes almost madcap. Anny is also engaged in a movie romance with her costar even though she’s in a public relationship with a French poet/intellectual.

While reading this, I thought of that TV series “Soap” with Billy Crystal. Each character paragraph is written so well that it’s like a mini-series within a larger story. And the madcap situations entwined with a few serious and sad scenes also call to mind “Soap”. As with “Soap”, ‘The Trio” adds social commentary and period details, politically and globally.

This is a quick and amusing read that will take you back to that turbulent time in the ‘60’s. I enjoyed it.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.7 stars

"People come to us...us novelists...looking for information about all the other people in the world; what we're thinking, what we need, what we dream about, what we hate, what makes us tick.... People are opaque, mysterious, even those dearest to us are closed books. If you want to know what people are like, if you want to know what's going on in their heads behind those masks we all wear then read a novel."

The above quote, spoken by one of the characters in Trio, speaks to William Boyd's intention with this novel. He succeeds in letting the reader inside the heads and behind the masks of his three main characters. He slowly removes their masks so the readers gets to know them as they get to know themselves, though this could have been done more successfully if not for some of the problems with the novel.

We meet these characters on a film shoot in 1960s Brighton, England. We follow their stories as each of them deals with issues about love and identity. William Boyd knows how to create three dimensional believable characters and it shows in this novel. I became interested in the lives of all three characters but the developments in their stories took far too long to unfold and were interrupted by side issues and characters making for a longer and more disjointed read. Also, Boyd is a good writer in that he knows how to string lovely sentences together. But there was just too much of a good thing with the stories rambling on and on. This novel could have benefited from some heavy editing. After such a tortuous read, the ending seemed unsatisfying for one character and hardly credible for another.

Boyd is one of my favorite writers which is why I decided to read this book despite less than glowing reviews from GR friends whom I respect and trust. I wanted to see for myself what Boyd had written. He is an inconsistent writer so I know not to expect a gem from each book.

I listened to this on audio which probably made it even harder to follow the long and disjointed narratives, though the narrator was fine.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Folks, I have absolutely no idea what the point of this novel is, but I loved it all the same. Is that allowed? Can I tell you that I looked forward each evening to turning the pages of a story that is about the filming of a novel in Brighton, England in 1968 and the intersection of stories of its leading lady, Anny Viklund, an American starlet, its closeted gay producer, Talbot Kydd, and the wife of the director who is pickling her organs in vodka as she attempts her first novel in ten years, the awkwardly named Elfrida Wing? I totally did. Boyd writes in a wry and snappy style that borders on farce, and the period details, from the frequent appearance of the world's most annoying song, MacArthur Park, to the protests in Paris, and Brighton's resort-vibe seediness, are intoxicating. It was so lovely to be out of the present world for a spell, in a time and place that seems to refreshingly simple now. But it's not all levity; there are more sinister subplots afoot, and more weighty matters, such as Talbot reluctantly emerging from the closet, to keep this teetering in an intricately plotted balance.

Colorful, unexpected, rich and off-kilter, Trio is a novel I entered with doubts and exited with questions, but was highly appreciative of the in-between.

[Metodi Markov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Другите три произведения на Бойд които съм чел, ми бяха далеч по-интересни.

В "Трио" не му се с получило добре - има идея, има интересни герои, но роман няма!

Ако се бе съсредоточил повече върху историите на писателката Елфрида Уинг и на продуцента Талбот Кид, може би щеше да успее по-добре да развие сюжета на книгата.

За съжаление, при наличието на двама редактори и дори на коректор, текста е недостатъчно добре предаден на български и това лично мен доста ме подразни. :(

Цитат:

"Не е ли любопитно, как собствените ни деца могат да се превърнат в същински непознати?"

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is 1968 and our cast of characters are in Brighton, for the filming of, “Emily Bracegirdle’s Extremely Useful Ladder to the Moon.” A wonderfully Sixties title; although this novel felt oddly timeless to me.

Our three main characters – the ‘Trio,’ of the title, are Talbot Kydd, Elfrida Wing and Anny Vikland. Talbot, the film’s producer, is a married father of two, who is homosexual and is coming to terms with the recent law, which means that his sexuality is no longer a crime. An ex-army man; Talbot visits a friend from the war years, now living openly with a man, but is not quite comfortable in the changing world His life is still very much secretive, with an alternative flat, and identity, in London.

Anny is a young American actress, who spends rather too much time taking drugs. She has very difficult relationships with older men and her ex-husband is currently on the run from the FBI and is rumoured to be in the UK. Meanwhile, she becomes embroiled in a relationship with her co-star, Troy Blaze (named by his management, obviously still following the traditions of Larry Parnes, rather than the more modern, Sixties promoters).

Lastly, there is Elfrida Wing, wife of Reggie (who wishes to be known as ‘Rodrigo’ Tipton, the film’s director. Elfrida was once a lauded author, but she last published a novel in 1958, and is now suffering from writer’s block. Her marriage to Reggie/Rodrigo is falling apart, due largely to his infidelity and disinterest. Stumbling from pub to pub, Elfrida has excellent titles for books, and even ideas for books, but she is unable to put these ideas onto paper…

Boyd is an assured and interesting writer and I enjoyed this trip through the film industry and the lives of his characters Somehow, I never quite became invested enough for this to be a five star read for me, but it is a solid four. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

[Esil · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+ stars

I love the topics Boyd takes on in his fiction but I find the delivery can be uneven. I liked aspects of Trio, but I felt it didn't quite deliver. Set in 1968 in Brighton, the story focuses on three characters linked to the shooting of a cheesy film. Annie is the star and her life is complicated by past and current lovers. Elfrida is the director's wife, trying to resurrect her career as a novelist, while rationalizing her ever escalating drinking. And Talbott is one of the producers, walking a fine line between a secret life and his professional life. Boyd is great at creating a strong sense of time and place. While the characters were not particularly likable, they were interesting in their flaws. But the plot felt somewhat aimless and plodding. I liked Any Human Heart enough to remain a Boyd devotee. I still love how he grounds his characters in their historical contexts. But I know not to expect to love each of his books. This was a buddy read with Diane and Angela. We all had different reactions which made the reading experience more interesting. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for giving me access to an advance copy.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Boyd is well known as a great storyteller and yet I had not previously read any of his novels, although he has been on my to read list for some time. Well I have finally made the plunge and enjoyed the ride. 

The story is set in the 1960's and features three main characters, an american actress named Anny, a film producer named Talbot and a novelist named Elfrida. All three are great characters and entertain throughout the novel while trying to deal with there personal issues. Anny Viklund is the lead in a new film being filmed in Brighton and although a star she is full of insecurities, dependant on prescription drugs. Film Producer Talbot Kidd is homosexual and is being deceived out of money by his business partner. And finally Elfrida Wing who is struggling to write her next big novel while dealing with her cheating husband and ever worsening drink problem.

Very good storytelling that makes a very entertaining read. 

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Penguin UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Iain · Rating 5 out of 5]

As William Boyd novels go, this would count as a minor work, lighter in tone and less dense than some of his other books. It makes for an entertaining read, and a minor Boyd is still better than most other writers out there. Sit back, relax and enjoy.

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

“This is 1968, Elfrida. Look around you. Germany, France, the USA, Vietnam. The world is on fire, changing. Don’t go backwards.”
“They are still people, Calder. Human beings ...” Elfrida wondered what she would say next. “And people come to us, us novelists, looking for information.”
“About what?”
“About other people. About all the other people in the world. What we’re thinking, what we need, what we dream about, what we hate. What makes us tick, basically. People are opaque, utterly mysterious. Even those dearest to us are closed books. If you want to know what human beings are like, actually like, if you want to know what’s going on in their heads behind those masks we all wear – then read a novel.”

Elfrida Wing, a middle-aged novelist struggling with writer’s block and late stage alcoholism, goes to her agent and tries to sell him on her latest idea for a book: the final day in the life of suicidal Virginia Woolf. Her man Calder is unimpressed, he wants something with plot and thrills for a modern audience.

This is the same issue I imagine William Boyd had to deal with when he told his publishers that he wanted to write a novel about three damaged people who go through a midlife crisis, an introspective character study in three parts. How can he sell this?

Let it play out as it may, he thought, there was nothing to be gained by fantasising. He almost laughed out loud. There was everything to be gained by fantasising; surely fantasising kept you sane, interested in life, connected to events, to all manner of agreeable, hypothetical possibilities. Maybe, he considered further, the very ability to fantasise was a fundamental feature of our human nature.

I believe we can sell it the readers on the strength of Boyd’s talent for coming up with flesh and blood, believable [fictional] people, people that somehow become representative of what he calls the ’fundamental features of our human nature’. And he does this with a style and subtlety that make labels such as postmodern or classic irrelevant, at least for me.

The framing story that gathers the three subjects of Boyd’s study of depression is the production of a movie in Brighton, in the year 1968. A midlife crisis can be triggered at any age, apparently:

Elfrida Wing, wife of the movie’s director, has known early success in her literary journey, and reviews comparing her style to Virginia Woolf, but hasn’t written anything in more than ten years. She starts her day with a couple of vodka and orange cocktails.

Anny Viklund is the star of the movie, a young American actress on the rise who tries to control her insecurity by seducing available men to protect her and medicating herself with stimulants and anti-depressants.

Talbot Kydd is the London based producer, an dapper elderly gentleman who abhors conflict and tries to be pleasant company while keeping a secret apartment in the metropolis where he indulges his homoerotic fantasies.
This film, Ladder to the Moon, was like weather: both unpredictable and unavoidable. You had no idea what the next day would bring, but it would bring something: wind, rain, sun, storms, drought. The simple overriding ambition was to survive, to maintain some degree of normality.

The making of a big budget movie provides the plot with conflict and with the interesting side characters that ease the reader into the secret inner landscape of this trio of improbable partners. To be honest, Boyd makes little effort to make his main actors likeable, especially Elfrida, whose descent into alcohol paranoia is painful to watch. Similarly, beautiful and successful Anny is a packet of raw nerve endings who seeks constant rescue from the men in her life: a former husband that is an ideological [and actual] terrorist and has just escaped from jail, a current boyfriend that is a successful philosopher and journalist in revolutionary Paris and the young and enthusiastic playboy who is her co-star in the movie. Always somebody else cast in the role of saviour, never herself.

Talbot Kydd eats ulcer pills like popcorn, having to deal with his arrogant arthouse director Rodrigo, people stealing his film stock, his Levantine partner trying to push him out of the production company and volatile actors making unreasonable demands. A lifetime of hiding his feelings and living a double life is about to catch up to him as he looks at the younger generation and society at large becoming enmeshed in the sexual emancipation he is still to afraid to acknowledge.

>>><<<>>><<<

I confess I have been a fan of William Boyd ever since I read An Ice-Cream War sometime back in 1991 or 1992. That debut novel shares a surprising number of literary devices with his latest offering: an in-depth character study of a young man with a boisterous imagination, caught up in interesting times in colonial Africa, written with elegant prose and provocative ideas about identity and motivation.
Over the years, mr. Boyd may not have changed his basic approach to fiction writing, but he has definitely gotten better at his game, striking a balance of sorts between revealing secret thoughts through character interaction and inserting his own editorial commentary.

The mention of Virginia Woolf and the questions about the relevance of her work to a modern audience brought the goods home to me when I asked myself what is the point of Trio , as well as a later reference to Talbot reading A la reserche du temps perdu for about the seventh time:

Desire, longing, hatred, revenge, love, shame, frustration, jealousy, yearning, and so on – all your adult emotions failed to equal or come close to the intensity of those emotions that you experienced as an adolescent. Which was why, the argument continued, adults were always searching for a repeat of that level of experience, that emotional truth, because they already had a touchstone, a template, that they remembered vividly. But they searched in vain, because the original experience – the vivid, heartfelt one – was always out of their reach, buried deep in their past, unrecoverable.

Is redemption possible for this trio of damaged people? Mr. Boyd tries to show empathy and kindness towards the problems they have to deal with, but it is hard to help people who do not want to help themselves and who live in denial. I think he wrote the novel in an attempt to find an answer out of this dilemma.

We cannot control most aspects of our lives, he thought, but those we can try to control, or at least influence, we should protect and cherish.

[John McDermott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost, but not quite 4 stars. Classily written ,as always, by one of my favourite writers and with some great characters. However, I did feel that it ended rather abruptly and was somewhat rushed. Still, there was much to enjoy and, quite frankly, I’ll read anything by William Boyd.
Well worth a look.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the wonderfully inimitable William Boyd comes a rollicking novel with a dark undertow, set around three unforgettable individuals and a doomed movie set. There's Talbot Kydd, a middle-aged and largely successful movie producer, husband and father, former soldier and, in a secret parallel life, an amateur photographer gradually reconciling with his hidden self. Elfrida Wing is a novelist formerly celebrated as ‘the new Virginia Woolf’, but she’s mired in a ten-year writer’s block, a displeasing marriage, and alcoholism. Anny Viklund is a talented young American actor of considerable renown, but her unfortunate relationship history refuses to stay in the past. 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? Peeling back the layers of idealism, Boyd’s heartfelt and beguiling novel, set on the Sussex coast towards in the late 60s, charts the emotional knots and interconnected fates of the eponymous threesome who turn out to be memorable and engaging central characters but with little in the way of redeeming features. Set against the backdrops of Brighton, London and Paris in the pivotal summer of ’68, the locations are vivid and richly described and the writing so immersive you feel as though you are there living through the times. Globally there's unrest and it becomes a year of historic significance through the student protests around the world, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam war as well as the backlash it evoked, to name a few. People are also learning to be freer since the passing of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which liberated homosexuals.

Boyd is one of the few writers that I feel I can never do justice to with each new book and new attempt to at least try in a review such as this; the main reason for this is because his stories aren't simply stories, and you don't merely read them. His books are an EXPERIENCE. A world you inhabit alongside the characters and live through every moment with. The three of them have only two things in common: the set of the film where their lives collided and the fact that each of them is troubled and living a double life. The potent mix of the three titular figures who drive the narrative, a fascinating time both socially and politically around the globe, and Boyd's masterful prose make this a novel to get lost in. Effortlessly wrought and endlessly compulsive and with the added touch of some sly wit, those who are already admirers of Boyd’s work will find lots to love in Trio and those new to him will swiftly come to the realisation they've ambled onto something spectacular. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Many thanks to Viking for an ARC.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is set in Brighton in the 1960’s where we meet a writer, film producer and an actress who are all working on a film.

They all have their own secrets and as the pressure builds, which one will explode!! I loved how we got to know the characters and their individual demons.

An author I will definitely be looking out for.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

[Ian Mapp · Rating 2 out of 5]

How disappointing. One of my "go to" authors releases a book that I find simply "Meh..."

It's a character story and the unfortunately, I found the characters very dull (and ridiculously named).

Elfrida Wing starts as the most interesting. An alcoholic writer with writers block, with her last hit 10 years previous. You know a book is in trouble when a writer spend a couple of chapters detailing writer block and shows us the re-written opener to a book that never gets off the ground. I preferred it more when she was drinking Sarsons and Tonic.

Talbot Kydd, a film producer, war veteran and hiding his homosexuality.

Anny Viklund, a film star who is having an affair with a young co-actor and has an ex-husband who turns up from America, on the run from bombing draft centres.

They are linked through the creation of a new film in 1960s Brighton.

I found the characters uniformly dull and there to be a lack of a suitable plot. The sense of location and time was largely missing.

I think his idea was to show the secret lives of people - as all three characters are hiding something. Not enough to carry a novel through 300 pages.

2 stars as the usual Boyd sly humour comes through occasionally and light enough reading for me to avoid abandoning.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5, rounded down.

I'd never read Boyd before this, and doubt he'll become a favorite, but something about this just hit my sweet spot: a concentration on plot and character, in smooth but unfussy prose. Boyd also sketched in the 1968 atmosphere and the world of cinema at that time, without going overboard on the period details. I thought each of the three major characters were delineated well, especially the closeted, conflicted Talbot. A fun and fast read.

[Shereadbookblog · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is 1968 and two of the trio of the title are involved in the world of filmmaking in Brighton. The third is a once successful writer, married to a film director. Despite her descent into alcohol, she is experiencing an extended dry spell with her writing. Various other people whose lives intersect with the trio round out this character rich novel. All of them are living lives full of angst, yet there is a poignancy as each one comes to find some resolution, some peace.

I liked this better than I thought I would. The description made it seem somewhat of a farce; but it wasn’t. Yes, there were moments of humor, but also wry observations of life during an era when “the times they are a changing”……

[Daniel Shindler · Rating 4 out of 5]

For people of a certain age, 1968 was a memorable and disturbing year.The sixties were actually two different eras.The first years resembled the fifties.Beginning with the middle years, the decade took a more turbulent turn.There were worldwide demonstrations against authority, increased violence, an eroding of the previous social order and a sense of displacement and redefinition for many individuals.

William Boyd introduces three people who are thrown together in Brighton in 1968 during the production of a movie.Talbot Kydd, the movie’s producer, is a former World War 2 officer and a closet homosexual.Elfrida Wing, whose philandering husband directs the movie, is a previously successful novelist who has had writers block for ten years and has devolved into a functional alcoholic.Anny Viklund is a young American actress who is one of the movie’s stars.She has an attraction to older men who sometimes are dangerous and destructive.

All three protagonists have a sense of anomie and are seeking to redefine their sense of self and relationship to the evolving social order.Fittingly, the book is divided into three sections...Duplicity, Surrender and Escape. These headings reminded me of the Hegelian dialectic of thesis,antithesis and synthesis. The characters are striving to synthesize their lives and Boyd describes their respective journeys with perceptiveness , compassion and wit.The results of their stories are varied and surprising.We are treated to a nostalgic look at the past and edified by a glimpse at some universal truths.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Big disappointment. I did not like the characters nor the situation in this book. Whatever the point of this book was supposed to be totally eluded me. It just seemed like a bunch of scenes strung together about people that I didn't care about. The ending was much like the rest of the book - disappointing.
I have read other Boyd books, and liked them. Just don't get this one.

[Trudie]

DNF @ pg 50.

Well i haven’t abandoned a book quite so fast for a while but this was doing absolutely nothing for me. Maybe I am just not a Boyd fan ?

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual with this author, I've forgotten everything in the book a week after finishing it. It really makes me question the book flap: "exhilarating...by turns hilarious and heartbreaking..."

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the summer of 1968, on a movie set in Brighton, a producer, a novelist and an actress’s lives are entwined.
A great story with a touch a dry humour, just what you expect from William Boyd.

[switterbug (Betsey) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I think that if there were an author I’d choose to write a fictionalized diary of my year in review, it would be British author William Boyd, because he creates such shapely characters. I didn’t mean my life story, but rather that Boyd has the capacity for short-term drama, and for characters. But, unfortunately, in TRIO, his characters’ stories lacked liftoff. Characters did things, things happened to these characters, and on some level, there was change. Is that sufficient?

The author didn’t entirely let me down, although the narrative had too much static electricity. The short saga read as if characters were running in place until he or she had a place to go. But all of them, in their own way, were endearing. That goes double for the novelist, Elfrida, with writer’s block and a drinking problem (formerly compared to Virginia Woolf). Generally, I avoid novels that star an active alcoholic, but Boyd contoured Elfrida well and factored her flaws in to make her more human and indefinite. Alcohol is like Vonnegut’s ice-nine, and there is a bit of a karass going on with some of these loosely knit cast members, all linked to the same movie project in some way: Emily Bracegirdle’s Ladder to the Moon.

The year is 1968. WW II is a shadow, Vietnam is a cloud, and everyone wants to feel brighter. Anny Viklund, an American actress, is in Brighton, England as the star of this Ladder movie. She hears that her convicted terrorist ex-husband has escaped prison and may be trying to find her. Her current boyfriend is an older man, Jacques, a Parisian philosopher involved with the cultural revolution in the French city manifested by mass protests and street battles. In the interim, Anny has gotten romantically involved with the less complicated and more gentle Troy, her romantic interest in Ladder.

One of the producers, Talbot Kydd, is a British man in his 50s who served in WW II, and is married and closeted, surrounded by temptation. Elfrida is a smart, attractive, and aloof woman, married to the director, (who has pretentiously changed his first name). Anny is a beautiful, diminutive, young star who got famous before she got wise.

Begin with understanding that Ladder to the Moon is metaphor to describe each of the characters defining purpose—to climb a ladder to the moon. Moon is also interpretive. And ladder. But Boyd more than hinted that it was personal poetry for each of his troubled protagonists. The chapters alternate on this “trio,” although in a few chapters, they alternate in paragraphs rather than chapters.

Finding yourself; revealing yourself; vulnerability; and realizing your part in life’s movie—or individual reality—prevails on the trio. The reader gains an intimate view of each, often more than they do of themselves—their denials, falsehoods, flaws. All the parts are placed consistently and consciously-—maybe too consciously, and I felt unsatisfied at the end. So this is it—the breadth of the story and its allegory? I gripped my hands at intervals, disappointed that Boyd didn’t do more with the material. But I don’t want to speak for most readers. You may feel rewarded; Boyd keenly creates complex characters that eclipse some of the story’s failures. I kept waiting for a radiant event but instead it was more like a tatty, faded finale.

(This is the UK edition, which I am sure is the same as the American one.)

[A.K. Kulshreshth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any new Boyd novel makes the world better. Like his others, this one is told fluently. Boyd has the uncanny ability to make the reader really get the thinking of the characters, while still surprising the reader with the turns of events. It's impossible to figure what's going to happen next. I listened to the audio book, and once again I enjoyed it that the ending was beautiful to listen to, but I didn't see it coming that I had reached the last line.

Unlike some of his works that do wonders with long spans of time, this one mostly delves into a particular place and time - Brighton and the year 1968. The "Trio" consists of a film producer, a writer who wrote her last novel ten years ago, and a movie actress. Each of them is not "an average person"; perhaps what makes Boyd's work resonate is that he shows that there's no such thing, there's also a lot that we all have in common.

I found the parts about the struggling writer's work on her new novel among the most interesting. Both alcoholism--which the writer suffers from--and writer's block have been dealt with before, but here they are treated in a fine funny-sad way.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was delighted to receive a review copy of William Boyd’s latest book because I regard him as one of my favourite writers and was looking forward very much to this release. Unfortunately and surprisingly, though, this has been a DNF for me.

The trio of the title are three characters all linked to a greater or lesser through the British film industry in the 1960s. The narrative style is jaunty and captures a sense of what it might have been like on the set of a Carry On film - everyone putting on a hilarious performance in front of the camera, while mired in various troubles and issues in real life. So far, so good. The difficulty I had with the text, however, was that everyone is so relentlessly unlikeable and unpleasant. I have no problem reading about such characters in general - who wants a story where everyone is PollyAnna? But there just seemed too much of it here. Perhaps it is a reflection of trying to read in these troubles 2020 times, I’m not sure.

I see on Goodreads that there have been plenty of four and five star reviews, but it was a disappointment to me.

[Robert Sheard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more like 3.5 stars.

It's 1968, a tumultuous time throughout the world. The story follows three characters who are tangentially linked: an American actress making a film in Brighton, whose terrorist ex-husband and French philosopher boyfriend ultimately get the FBI involved in her life; the producer of that film, a closeted gay man who's married with children and hates what his life has become (or not become); and an alcoholic novelist (married to the film's philandering director), who can't get past the first paragraph of her novel about Virginia Woolf's final day, which no one wants to publish. All three characters ultimately ask themselves what makes life worth living. At times humorous and insightful, it's a much less serious read than the description might make it seem. An intellectual farce, perhaps.

[Tuti · Rating 2 out of 5]

sorry to say, this was very disappointing. interesting permises - but the characters, the „plot“ (?) remained unengaging and unconvincing... as was the writing itself...
„Trio“ as a title sounded good - but it doesn‘t really match the content of three (or four, or five) loosely connected stories... there is no „trio“