The Three Graces - by Amanda Craig (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

'A brilliant piece of storytelling that revels in the world of expat old ladies in Tuscany, and should be the book that everybody's reading this summer' Andrew O'Hagan

'In the Tuscan hilltop village of Santorno, the setting for Amanda Craig's entertaining and bracing new novel, the Three Graces of her title are preparing for a spring wedding. Adorning this idyll Craig's Graces - Ruth, Marta and Diana - are a trio of elderly expatriates with a total of "four breasts, five eyes and three hip replacements" between them... witty, sharp-eyed and ridiculously enjoyable' Christobel Kent, Guardian

When Enzo, a local villager, shoots an illegal immigrant from his bedroom window one night it triggers a series of events that embroil old and young, rich and poor, native and foreign.

'Enjoyable and provocative... romantic and realistic' Emily Rhodes, Spectator

'I absolutely LOVED The Three Graces. It's about Tuscany and Umbria and Italy and immigration and ageing and generational divides and art and beauty and music and suffering and love and joy and life. It's bursting with compassion and wisdom' Christina Patterson

From the Back Cover

In the Tuscan hilltop village of Santorno, the setting for Amanda Craig's entertaining and surprisingly bracing new novel, the Three Graces of her title are preparing for a spring wedding. Adorning this idyll (or 'Hampstead-by-Tuscany', as it is christened by a disgruntled member of the younger generation) Craig's Graces - Ruth, Marta and Diana - are a trio of elderly expatriates with a total of 'four breasts, five eyes and three hip replacements' between them.

When Enzo, a local villager, shoots an illegal immigrant from his bedroom window one night it triggers a series of events that embroil old and young, rich and poor, native and foreign.

'Gorgeous and generous... rich with characters and suffused with sunlight' Lissa Evans, author of OldBaggage

'I absolutely LOVED The Three Graces. It's about Tuscany and Umbria and Italy and immigration and ageing and generational divides and art and beauty and music and suffering and love and joy and life. It's bursting with compassion and wisdom. Do treat yourself. We could all do with more beauty, compassion and joy' Christina Patterson

Review Quotes

[A] rambunctious state-of-the-nation caper from Craig... The impending nuptials for the clearly disastrously ill-matched hedge-funder and his influencer girlfriend spark all manner of highly-enjoyable chaos and conflict among the sprawling guestlist. Great spiky fun.--Mail+

A witty and perceptive writer with a line line in figuration... Craig is loyal to her creations... and to her topics, which are given a fresh perspective by the Italian setting: intergenerational differences, the death of local communities and global migration. They elevate her from a state-of-the-nation to a state-of-Europe novelist--Daily Telegraph

Enjoyable and provocative... The novel is both easy and challenging, romantic and realistic. Its success lies in the ever-present tension between light and dark. These three graces turn out to be more Caravaggio than Botticelli--Emily Rhodes, Spectator

Gorgeous and generous... rich with characters and suffused with sunlight. It has so much to say on age - the three graces of the title are all over eighty; wonderful to have elderly characters, so usually marginal, right at the centre of the plot--Lissa Evans, author of Old Baggage

Hugely entertaining--Telegraph

I absolutely LOVED The Three Graces. It's about Tuscany and Umbria and Italy and immigration and ageing and generational divides and art and beauty and music and suffering and love and joy and life. It's bursting with compassion and wisdom. Do treat yourself. We could all do with more beauty, compassion and joy--Christina Patterson

I love Amanda Craig's work, always supercharged with bright colouration and passionate feeling. And her imagination seems boundless: a defiant, bubbling wellspring of free-wheeling enquiry in a literary landscape made more and more arid and monotonous--Rose Tremain

Witty and timely... Alongside the fantastic cast and characters, Craig has lots to say about issues of the day--Good Housekeeping

Witty, sharp-eyed, ridiculously enjoyable... Craig is too clever a storyteller to allow herself to be skewered as neatly as her characters are--Christobel Kent, Guardian

A thought-provoking, five-star ride with plenty to appeal to all generations--Devon Life

As ever, the binary oppositions of modern Britain are compassionately dissected through the various tangled relationships of her sprawling cast... Craig wears her satire lightly, even delightfully at times--Claire Allfree, Daily Mail

Clever plotting, memorable characters and a completely satisfying ending--Jojo Moyes

Craig's ambitious, masterly novel reveals the darkness that lies behind the E.M. Forster-esque vistas without ever losing control of the fast-paced story at hand--Francesca Peacock, Mail on Sunday

Craig's warmth and attention to detail means the characters are fully formed and compelling--Jewish Chronicle

I loved The Three Graces... the combination of three "mature" central characters, the extended families spread over several generations and the way so many modern issues were reflected against a classical, Mediterranean backdrop make it Amanda Craig's most resonant book yet, a brilliant examination of modern life set against the sunshine of ancient Tuscany--Anthony Horowitz

I revelled in The Three Graces - such an intriguing cast, so convincingly presented, and a narrative that continually surprises. The Tuscan backdrop is illuminating, the apposition between old and young so persuasively displayed. A terrific read.--Penelope Lively

Multilayered, full of discreet wisdom and wit... [a] most ingeniously plotted and ultimately satisfying novel. There's much more to it than just readability--Oldie

People talk about the infirmities of old age, but what about the firmities? What about the beliefs, the events, the politics, the odd secret? The Three Graces is a brilliant piece of storytelling that revels in the world of expat old ladies in Tuscany, and it should be the book everybody's reading this summer. The setting's idyllic, the air is mild in May, but there's a threat of England and family histories just beyond the horizon. It's a novel E.M. Foster would've loved.--Andrew O'Hagan, author of Mayflies

The plotting is intricate and the themes are big, yet the book's special quality comes from something else: a friendship between three octogenarian women whose thoughtful preoccupations with the past, the present and each other form the novel's charming centre--Kathy O'Shaughnessy, Literary Review

This is such an enjoyable book. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to live in Tuscany instead of passing through in a drunken haze - read this pronto--Daisy Goodwin, author of Diva

Thoroughly enjoyable... Craig's continuing interest in exposing the fault lines of class, wealth and the inequality of opportunity is striking--Alex Clark, Observer

We're back in the dreamy Tuscan hills... the story gets into its stride, satisfyingly tying up loose ends and building to a spectacular wedding scene--Kate Green, Country Life

While The Three Graces doesn't shy away from the grim social and economic realities facing 21st-century Europe, it's still great, fizzy fun and a perfect holiday read--Helen Brown, Perspective

About the Author

Amanda Craig is a British novelist, short-story writer and critic. After a brief time in advertising and PR, she became a journalist for newspapers such as the Sunday Times, Observer, Daily Telegraph and Independent, winning both the Young Journalist of the Year and the Catherine Pakenham Award. She was the children's critic for the Independent on Sunday and The Times. She still reviews children's books for the New Statesman, and literary fiction for the Observer, but is mostly a full-time novelist. Her novel Hearts and Minds was longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and The Lie of the Land was chosen as book of the year by the Guardian, Observer, Telegraph, New Statesman, Evening Standard, Sunday Times and Irish Times.