The Three of Us

Having read her family memoir, a book that engrosses and horrifies in equal measure, it is hard not to be reminded of Larkin's famous axiom: 'They fuck you up your mum and dad.'... 'Blackburn's writing transcends the frightening idiosyncrasies of her upbringing. Her prose is understated and evocative, despite the desperate truths that lurk beneath.'... 'It would be easy for Blackburn to attribute blame or to seek explanation, but her refusal to do so gives this triptych portrait an integrity and honesty that it could otherwise lack.

Observer

The fact that I was unable to put [the book] down is proof of how well she tells [the story], and of how such an experience, if described with real skill, honesty, and sensitivity, will make a valuable book, however many others of a similar kind have been published.... I ended it feeling very glad indeed that I had overcome my first disinclination to begin it

Diana Athill, Literary Review

[Blackburn] has written an exceptionally perceptive and fascinating book, a tribute by a remarkable daughter to the resilience of filial love.

Anne Chisholm, Sunday Telegraph

a rich account...brilliant vignettes

Camilla Long, Sunday Times

This piercing memoir paints in vivid colours Julia Blackburn's nightmarish childhood

Alison Flood, The Telegraph

A stunningly written memoir

Sunday Times

Blackburn tells us about these things in a compelling authorial voice which is by turns numb and incredibly sensitive

William Leith, Evening Standard

Brutally honest book ...deeply moving testament to the love that can somehow survive

Aimee Shalan, Guardian

In this memoir she describes her eccentric, dangerous, wonderful bohemian parents...Blackburn emerged from this turmoil as a fine writer, and this book is full of understanding and reconciliation

Margaret Drabble, New Statesman

A small masterpiece, much to be recommended

Daily Telegraph

Blackburn has written an exceptionally perceptive and fascinating book, a tribute by a remarkable daughter to the resilience of filial love

Sunday Telegraph

The Three of Us contains all the mental and physical violations that cling to the bare bones of their shared past... Blackburn was never afraid of her father. It's very clear in the book - he is described even at his blackest moments with affection and warmth

Guardian

Blackburn's first 16 years sound quite frankly too bad to be true. Nightmarish infact - though she details them in such an ingenuous, matter-of-fact manner that she somehow manages to make terrible events seem almost funny.... the resulting memoir is mesmerising and brilliant

Daily Mail

Despite the darkness of the rooms she re-enters, her book isn't gloomy in the least... Extracts from her journal and faxes to Herman offset the main narrative, which darts back and forth in time. It's a structure that works wonderfully well... However unforgiving her detail, tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner is the message of this extraordinary book

Blake Morrison, Guardian

An extraordinary family memoir... A bohemian classic

Week