Three

Overview

A trio of lesbian protagonists deal with life-changing discoveries, utopian dreams, and loss and regret

Three very different women’s stories are told in this work of fiction: each is 41 years old, each has the same birthday, and each has the same birthmark. After years of planning, radical feminist Antonia and her lover—the charismatic and bipolar Josephine—found an independent nation for women on an abandoned oil rig. At first, they thrive; 30 women transform the barren platform into a lush garden, capable of supplying their every need. But the quest for purity supplants radical action, and tears the community apart. Dr. Katherine North is not a sentimental woman, but after she reads that an old lover has died, she’s driven to make peace with the woman who still haunts her, the deeply religious and conservative Amanda. Growing up working class and Catholic, Kitty Trevelyan never considered abortion when she got pregnant at 18. She loves her kids, is finally working on a college degree, and has been happily married for 23 years. Happily enough, until her professor, Faye, asks her for coffee and kisses her. As the parallel lines of the women’s lives converge, what connects them is finally revealed.

Reviews

"Three is the novel I've been waiting for. It's a story as steady and true as a heartbeat, building slowly to a wild storm where utopias turn dystopian and then back again. It's both a cautionary tale of courage and cowardice and a battle call where the personal and the political shatter and mend each other. And Three is a book of such beauty that it could change the world." —Derrick Jensen, author, Endgame

"A novel for the radical heart. It's a story for both the brave and the weary, lush with our passions, poignant with loss. It's a map through the territory we must travel to find that shining world of our dreams, a world that a tiny few refuse to abandon despite our endless defeats." —Lierre Keith, author, The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability

"With an air of myth, an acute sense of irony, and a climactic sex scene you'll never forget, this savory book will keep a smirk of pleasure smeared across your face at every pithy dialogue, sharp observation, and lyrical turn of phrase." —www.LambdaLiterary.org

"Monahan uses language beautifully. Everything she attempts to achieve with imagery, allusion, and forays into science and poetry, she achieves." —Cascadia Subduction Zone (October 2012)

"Like most complex and ambitious literary novels, this one bears re-reading--in fact almost demands it. As improbable as the premise may be, the beautifully drawn characters are believable and memorable." —www.SunDressPublications.com

Author Biography

Annemarie Monahan is a chiropractor and writer who has been published in numerous lesbian and feminist journals. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.