Us Three: The heart-warming and uplifting Sunday Times bestseller

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This novel oozes warmth and honesty. A big-hearted book that provides a cast of characters you'll lose your heart to.' ADELE PARKS A passionate love affair that highlights why second chances should not always be given, or taken [29] Published by Bantam. I think that there is a better book in here that is screaming to get out. I don’t mean that to sound cruel but at times it felt a little clunky at the expense of the character development. One character in particular was very similar to a character in Never Greener for example which felt a little jarring especially as I loved the characterisation in her first book. The new novel from Ruth Jones, author of the smash-hit, number one bestselling debut, Never Greener .

I have enjoyed Ruth Jones work on the television but this is my first venture into her books. I was a little put off by the comment 'Women's Fiction' but needn't of worried because this novel is all about what I love in a book, great characters. This book is all about great characters and their relationships while maturing as adults. Catrin is from a loving Irish family, Lana from a large family where she is the eldest of a number of siblings and Judith is an only child who has a difficult relationship with her complex and emotionally abusive mother. Their holiday is one of the last times the three of them spend quality time together before an event damages their friendship for many years to come. Liz looked sheepish and turned to Catrin. ‘Well, your father thought seeing as you didn’t make it to Mass on Sunday . . .’ She told Grazia, ‘My debut novel Never Greener had been a love story of sorts – albeit a bit of a messed up one! I wanted to move away from that and explore a different relationship arena, the arena of lifelong friendship. I’ve been very blessed with solid, loyal friendships in my life – I’m still close friends with girls (women!) I knew as a child and we have shared the good as well as the bad times in life; passed the happy and sad milestones. So the friends I celebrated passing my driving test with are the same friends who were at my wedding and my dad’s funeral. A touching celebration of the beauty and endurance of female friendship. There is nothing mightier. Fact. Dawn FrenchBy now Tom was having to stifle his hysteria with his mother’s Tower of London tea towel, stuffing almost half of it inside his mouth. Ruth Jones is excellent on human nature and why we make the mistakes we do. I felt for every character. Unputdownable.’

The three main characters are in their own words as different as "chalk, cheese and chocolate". But that's what made it so compelling as you see how each one handles life and the same events so differently. It also meant that I related to each one at different times. Ruth Jones describes each character so brilliantly that I felt like the fourth friend and that I'd also known them all my life. Inevitable that they should see each other – today of all days. Uncertainty fizzled between them, and they hesitated on the verge of a hug before both deciding against it. However, their Greek holiday changes their lives in ways they could never have foreseen. Judith investigates her father’s Cypriot family history and uncovers disturbing truths, while a local man breaks Catrin’s heart – but she hasn’t heard the last of him. I think that there is a better book in here that is screaming to get out. I don’t mean that to sound cruel but at times it felt a little clunky at the expense of the character development. One character in particular was very similar to a charac

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She’ve got a point mind, Huw,’ said Liz, Catrin’s mother, who was peeling a price tag off the sole of a new flip-flop. Lana, Judith and Catrin live in a small Welsh town and they are the best of friends. When they were eight years old, they swore an oath on a Curly Wurly wrapper that they would remain friends for life. Oh my goodness this felt like the good old days or early Marian Keyes, Lisa Jewell and Sophie Kinsella and this novel evoked the same feelings in me as those early novels did. I loved this book so much more than I was expecting and I can feel it with me even now. She’d never told anyone, not even Judith and Lana, but the first week she didn’t go to Mass, she lay on her bed and cried. Was she tempting Fate? Was something awful going to happen to her now that she’d become . . . actually, what had she become? A heathen? A God-less monster? The Catholic guilt with which she’d grown up was not going to be easy to shift. Her parents never once tried to persuade her to join them on Sunday mornings, and she appreciated that. But then when Christmas came, she couldn’t stay away from Midnight Mass. ‘I feel such a hypocrite,’ she’d said to Judith, who couldn’t understand why. Her dad’s all right though – had a game with him down the club the other day,’ said Tom. ‘Don’t say much, but he’s a demon with a pool cue.’

Oh, thank God! Look, the sooner you get here and we bugger off to Greece, the better. My family is actually deranged. My mother has only gone and—’ I loved this brilliantly gripping depiction of the complexities of female friendship over the years. Love, betrayal, comedy and loss - Us Three has it all.' FIONA NEILL Tidy Productions also produced 58 episodes of the comedy drama Stella for Sky TV. The first series aired in 2012. It was Jones' first major comedy project since Gavin & Stacey; she created, executive produced and storylined the show with Peet. Jones stars in the title role, and wrote several episodes as well as co-writing episodes with Rob Gittins, Rob Evans, David Peet and Steve Speirs. Jones has stated she was worried about comparisons to Gavin & Stacey when setting a second programme in Wales and the company originally thought to set it in Bristol, but the decision was made to set it in the Rhondda Valley "I know people from the Valleys and it is just a joyously colourful place and full of characters." [11] A second series of Stella was filmed in summer 2012 and aired in early 2013. [12] A further four series plus two Christmas specials completed the run, with the final episode broadcast in October 2017. a b c Wilson, Sophie (13 December 2010). "Ruth Jones: I have been fortunate to play parts that have not just been, 'Oh, you need a fat person' ". The Telegraph. London . Retrieved 21 May 2012. Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Us Three written and read by Ruth Jones, co-creator of Gavin & Stacey and author of the smash-hit, number one bestselling debut, Never Greener.Alrigh’, Liz? ’ow’s it goin’, alrigh’?’ Father O’Leary was from Cardiff, and his broad accent and chippy, high-pitched voice always took anyone he met by surprise. He somehow sounded too urban for a man of the cloth. Three childhood friends, Lana, Judith and Catrin, best friends since primary school when they swore an oath on a Curly Wurly wrapper that they would always be there for each other, come what may. But their friendship is tested to the limits and their childhood promise seems likely to be broken. Catrin was bizarrely fascinated by the way Father O’Leary spoke. As if he was jabbing them all on the arm with his Cardiffian-accented utterances. Short, staccato and stilted. Like a series of dotted quavers on a music manuscript. He carried on, taking his crucifix out of his bag as he spoke and placing it delicately on the kitchen table. Liz surreptitiously removed Tom’s box of Shredded Wheat. ‘Your mum and dad – they wants me to say a little prayer for you, alrigh’? Just to send you on your travels, like . . .’ After the holiday, the women all take different paths in life, and we follow them for three decades as they settle down and start families, with Catrin always the glue that binds the trio together. Now you’re to keep it on you at all times, d’you hear? Even when you sleep!’ said Huw as he held out a highly unattractive khakicoloured money belt.

The doorbell rang and Catrin’s parents exchanged a look. ‘Ah, that’ll be Father O’Leary,’ said Huw with forced breeziness as he made his way into the hall. Only answer this question if you are with very good friends. Look around the room who is most like the main characters in Us Three?But how can the prayer work if he got my name wrong? I mean, did he even say my name right when I got baptized?’ Catrin pleaded in hushed tones.