Johanna Hedman: The Trio

Sophisticated, mature and richly atmospheric, a debut novel about three young people navigating the risks and possibilities of intimacy For fans of Andre Aciman, Deborah Levy and the Penguin European Writers series Thora, August and Hugo come from different worlds - one an art school dreamer, one a wealthy scion of the old elite, and one an ordinary boy from out of town. But over the course of two sky-blue summers in Stockholm, they are drawn together magnetically. The novel opens years later, when Hugo, long estranged from Thora and August, is visited by their daughter - who has questions about her parents which she believes Hugo can answer - and the memories of those luminous days come flooding back. Modern yet timeless, poignant and euphoric, The Trio is a novel about the path not taken, the people we might have become, and the relationships which shape and haunt us long after they come to a close.