Instances of the Number 3 [Paperback]

Salley Vickers' novel Instances of the Number Three is set in London and Shropshire. It describes the relationship between a dead man, his wife and his mistresses and is illuminated by philosophical ponderings on Hamlet and his ghost, and the poetry of Dante, Gerald Manley Hopkins and John Donne. Peter Hansome is the dead husband who walks through the pages of the novel, appearing to his wife Bridget in "his old tweed jacket and cords. He was, in fact, exactly, but without the disfiguring cuts and bruises of the accident, as she had seen him last--in his coffin. "To come to terms with his life and death, literature-loving Bridget makes friends with his mistress, Francis, an ex-artists' model: "She ... had a capacity for stillness and the kind of body which reflects planes of light." But as the omniscient narrator says:

This is not an account of feminine jealousy, or even revenge, instead its a story of negotiation and discovery as the characters orbit each other like little planets.

Vickers' prose style is witty, literary and decorous, her musing on the instances of the number three take in purgatory, heaven and hell; the eternal lovers triangle and the trinity (memorably described as the "different flavours of a Neapolitan ice"). The book is a controlled meditation on personal identity, passion and art, where emotions are analysed and reconciled. Sally Vickers' trick is to keep you interested in the hearts and lives of the characters as her novel of ideas gently unfurls.

This is a fine successor to Vickers' hugely successful debut novel, Miss Garnett's Angel, a subtle story of an older woman's emotional epiphany set in contemporary Venice. --Eithne Farry --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘Salley Vickers is a remarkable optimist. She shows that happiness can be found even after it seems to have died.’ David Sexton, Evening Standard

‘Gentleness of perception and sharpness of intellect…sustains you long after the last page.’ Bel Mooney, The Times

‘Admirable. Salley Vickers has a way with persuasive characters and crisp narrative.’ Penelope Lively, Independent

‘Vickers writes sympathetically about the bereaved women as they remake their lives.’ Margaret Walter, Sunday Times

‘Studded with observations and asides that stop you in your tracks.’ Julie Wheelwright, Scotland on Sunday

‘The reader glides through it effortlessly. The plot is simple, yet has an amazing amount of narrative power. Vickers’ second novel confirms that she will have a long and outstanding career.’ Martyn Goff, The Times

‘Lovely. Distinctive grace.’ Murrough O’Brien, Daily Telegraph

‘Her voice rings true and strong.’ Jane Gardam, Spectator

'Vicker's novel is gallopingly readable and its two principal women are compellingly drawn'. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The fantastic new edition of the bestselling second novel from the author of ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’.

Bridget Hansome and Frances Slater have only one thing in common. And that's Peter Hansome, who has died suddenly. Without their husband or lover, the women find that before they can rebuild their lives they must look to themselves and unravel mysteries that they had never before even suspected. So begins an unlikely alliance between wife and mistress and a voyage of discovery that is as comic as it is profound.

‘Instances of the Number 3’ is a funny, beguiling exploration of love, bereavement, Shakespeare, illusion and the impossibility of escaping your past. Following on from ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’, this brilliant novel confirms Salley Vickers as a writer who transcends generations.

When Peter Hansome dies in a car crash he leaves behind a wife and a mistress – but as these women confront their loss death becomes not an end but a beginning.

This beguiling novel explores the mysterious power of triangles: a man, his wife and his mistress – and two other people he may have known. Bridget Hansome, Shakespeare lover, and Frances Slater, former artist's model, are unconventional women and following Peter's death unexpectedly they become friends. But who is the young Iranian boy who also befriends the two women and comes to live with Peter's widow? And what was Peter's connection to him and to his even more elusive sister?

'Instances of the Number 3' is a highly original, thought-provoking book about the links between moral choice, art, acting and personal identity. It is an intriguing evocation of universal instances of triads – mother, father and child; artist, model and painting; heaven, hell and purgatory; even the Holy Trinity itself – and an audacious, and witty, exposition on larger questions about life, death and possible other levels of existence.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Salley Vickers divides her time between London and Venice. Previously a university lecturer in English, when not writing she practices as a psychologist and still lectures widely on the connections between literature, psychology and religion.

Instances of the Number 3 PREFACE

It is said there were ancient schools of thought which held that the number 3 is unstable. If the reasons for this belief were ever known they are lost in time. A three-legged stool refutes the claim, as - less prosaically - we are told does the Christian trinity. Whatever the case, it is a fact that three is a protean number: under certain conditions it will tend to collapse into two - or expand into four ...

After Peter Hansome died, people were surprised that his widow seemed to be spending so much time with his mistress. Bridget Hansome was not the kind of woman who could have failed to notice her husband's discreet, but regular, visits to the flat in Turnham Green where Frances Slater lived. And, indeed, anyone married to Peter Hansome would have needed to learn the art of turning a blind eye. Had the various friends and acquaintances of the Hansomes' been asked to bet on how the wife might deal with a mistress discovered in the aftermath of the husband's death (were it the thing to gamble on the likely effects on a widow of the discovery of a long-established infidelity), the odds would probably have been on Bridget allowing Frances to attend the funeral, but with an unspoken provision that no mention be made of the reason for her being there.

In the event the punters would have lost their bets for this is not what occurred.. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.