Instances of the Number 3

By Salley Vickers

'A person ... isn't only flesh and blood. A person exists inside one, informing one's state of mind'.

This is a thoughtful story full of humour and surprises. Peter Handsome dies suddenly in a car accident and leaves behind a wife and a mistress. After his death the mistress, Frances Slater, a London art dealer and sometimes artists' model, contacts Peter's wife, the Shakespeare-loving Bridget Hansome. What the women do not know is that Peter was also involved with a third woman, a prostitute named Zelda.

Bridget has over the years accepted her husband's many love affairs but is, nonetheless, very hurt when she learns about Frances and Peter's loving relationship over the past seven years. I have to say that although Bridget might not be the most likeable of people, I could not help but feel her pain when finding out about Frances and Peter. A little surprisingly, the women become friends and discover that they have in common what is most important to them: the memory of the man they both loved. Slowly the women get to know each other and even spend weekends in the country together.

One day an Iranian boy, Zahin, shows up on Bridget's doorstep. He seems to have known Peter and so she lets him stay with her. Zahin is a whiz at housework as well as a natural flatterer, but has an even more mysterious sister...

After having read Miss Garnet's Angel I have to say I was a little disappointed with this novel. It did not live up to my expectations, so not a book I would read again.