A story about a working-class couple undergoing a slow investigation of their boarder and sometimes-lover's death, Quin's experimental novel has the potential to be dreary to the point of unreadability. But I found myself laughing in public, amazed at the way the author uses enjambment and dangling modifiers to add brilliant layers to her prose, line breaks that turn otherwise dry language into something almost too smart for its own good. The way Quin conjures claustrophobia, familiarity, and a sense of text being found rather than written--it all upset the way I'll read from here on out.
— Jack P.-- Ruth and Leonard's young female boarder, S., disappears under circumstances that suggest suicide. As the couple pours over her diary, audio tapes, and movies, their obsession with the enigmatic young girl takes over their relationship. Three combines laconic dialogue with poetic impressionism in an incisive exploration of the hidden emotions and sexual undercurrents of the British middle class.