Us Three

Ruth Jones

US THREE

Contents

About the Author

Ruth Jones is best known for her outstanding and award-winning television writing, most notably BBC One’s Gavin and Stacey, which she co-wrote with James Corden and in which she played the incorrigible Nessa Jenkins. The most recent Christmas Day special of Gavin and Stacey gained national critical acclaim, drawing an audience of over 18 million, winning a BAFTA for TV moment of the year and a National Television Award for Impact, and gaining an RTS nomination for Ruth’s performance. Ruth also created and co-wrote Sky One’s Stella, which ran for six series. As well as being BAFTA-nominated for her role as the eponymous Stella, Ruth has starred in several other television comedies and dramas.

Her debut novel Never Greener has now sold over a quarter of a million copies. It was chosen as WHSmith Fiction Book of the Year 2018, was a Zoe Ball Book Club pick, and was a Sunday Times bestseller for fifteen weeks, three weeks at number one. Us Three is Ruth’s second novel and was a Sunday Times bestseller in hardback.

‘This novel oozes warmth and honesty. A big-hearted book that provides a cast of characters you’ll lose your heart to.’
Adele Parks

‘A poignant novel about friendship and forgiveness … with fantastic characterization, as you’d expect from the co-creator of Gavin & Stacey, it’s an epic journey.’
Woman & Home

‘I loved spending time immersed in Catrin, Judith and Lana’s lives … A contender for my Books of the Year list.’
Prima

‘This moving story of three Welsh friends-for-life … balances warmth and humour with bleakness and despair. Another winner for Gavin and Stacey star Jones.’
Daily Mail

‘A funny, moving and uplifting novel.’
Sun

‘We couldn’t turn the pages fast enough on this brilliant book.’
Closer

‘Ruth Jones tells her well-crafted characters’ experiences, both hilarious and heartbreaking, with compassion and sensitivity, making for a warm and witty story of enduring friendship.’
Daily Express

‘Moving and funny … Jones’ unique voice is evident from the first sentence, with her infamous colloquial dialect and warm characters.’
My Weekly

‘A funny and warm tale of friendship.’
Evening Standard

‘I loved this brilliantly gripping depiction of the complexities of female friendship over the years. Love, betrayal, comedy and loss – Us Three has it all.’
Fiona Neill

‘A wonderfully warm, funny, totally engrossing and unputdownable novel about friendship. A gorgeous treat.’
Kate Eberlen

Also by Ruth Jones

Never Greener

and published by Black Swan

For my bold and beautiful bad-weather friends

Omne trium perfectum
Every set of three is perfect

Prologue

2017

The shoes were a big mistake. Her toes had gone numb and every time a stiletto heel crunched on to the unforgiving surface of the pavement, it set her teeth on edge. Once again vanity had taken precedence over comfort. Nice one, Lana.