Rafi calls the headmaster to warn him something horrible is about to happen. His call occasionally starts amber alert and BANG! The gun blast breaks the silence. The school is already under the siege. It's beautifully, elegantly written, SO gripping, intelligent, timely, affecting and moving Marian Keyes Like a breath of icy air. . . Not since Smilla's Feeling for Snow have I shivered like this. Emma Donoghue on 'The Quality of Silence' Three Hours is both a gripping thriller and a beautiful meditation on the nature of family, friendship, courage and unintended - lethal - consequences. Superb. Kate Mosse Three Hours is Rosamund Lupton's best book yet, and that is high praise. A monster story for our fractious historical moment -- the age of the internet and of Columbine, of terror and mass migration -- when the monsters often look an awful lot like our own children. Chilling, suspenseful, humane, and brave -- William Landay

There were so many characters and so many different points of view that there wasn’t really time for character development. It was also slightly unrealistic in places and I could really have done without the tenuous links to Macbeth. This novel's greatest strength is its moving depiction of the anguishes of parenthood and the wild possibilities of first love * The Times * Three Hours is one of the most exhilarating reading experiences I've ever had. Rosamund Lupton takes a dark, painful subject and turns it into a novel full of hope and compassion. An amazing achievement. Emma Healey, bestselling author of 'Elizabeth is Missing' and 'Whistle in the Dark' A school is under a siege and the headmaster has been shot. The story is being told from the point of view of everyone involved – the students, the teachers, the worried parents, the investigators, even the bad guys… Different people are hiding in different places in the school, all hoping this is just a dream. I've just finished reading this. Exceptional - so well planned and written. I'm also in awe of Rosamund Lupton -- Sarah EdghillIt's taken me a couple of days since I finished Three Hours to think about this extraordinary story and what I can write in my review. Three Hours is based on every parent's worst nightmare - a school siege, young pupils held hostage, teachers being shot and gunmen surrounding the school seemingly uninterested in negotiating. What makes this particular story stand out from others in this genre is that the school in question is based in Somerset, UK and in the midst of a fierce and unrelenting snow blizzard.

The school is a campus of multiple buildings located in woodlands on the Somerset coast and includes a junior school, a senior school, pottery building and a theatre. It has continued to grow from the 1920s adding new to old and now provides education to 14 years of student needs. Several teachers and students occupy each of the buildings and their stories are told with compelling fascination when threat and fear hang over their every move. The novel explores how different people react, some stepping forward in moments of courage and those that don’t. Rosamund Jane Lupton (née Orde-Powlett), is a British writer. She studied literature at Cambridge University. She is perhaps best known for her novels Sister, Afterwards, The Quality of Silence and Three Hours Early life and family [ edit ] Three Hours was chosen by the Times as their thriller of the year. The Sunday Times called Three Hours 'a brilliant literary thriller...reminiscent of both Greek tragedy and Shakespeare’ This beautiful and sensitive story is narrated through the eyes of several main characters bringing a multi-layer human angle enabling the reader to watch the story unfold through so many different sides. Rosamund Lupton was a winner of Carlton Television's new writers' competition, and before being a novelist, she was a script-writer for television and film, writing original screenplays.I have read a handful of stories featuring the abhorrent circumstances depicted here but none, I believe, have been set in Britain. Facets of this setting felt familiar to me, which only served to, again, heighten the horror for the unknown that was also hidden amongst it.

Three Hoursis a brilliant novel - moving, relevant and honest. Rosamund Lupton takes us through the story of a siege in an English school, building on the tension and our emotions as the story speeds to its conclusion. She handles difficult subjects with sensitivity and intelligence, focusing on the heroism of the individual. An exceptional and heartbreaking read -- Jenny QuintanaAn incredible, unbelievably powerful book... I forgot how to breathe as it explored what it means to be human - for better or for worse. It's taut, it's tight, it's appalling, it's uplifting, it's extraordinary. Simply stunning -- Dinah Jefferies Devastatingly good, and announces the arrival of a truly original talent * Daily Mail on 'Sister' * Three Hours is narrated in 10-minute increments throughout this terrifying snowy morning (anyone with a schoolchild might find it unbearable, and a manipulative, sentimental quality does lurk within) starting at 9.16am when the headmaster is shot in the head. The ends are tied up a little too hastily and neatly, with some frustratingly unanswered questions, and the mystery of a third terrorist serves to muddy the waters. Rosamund Lupton delivers a powerful & beautifully written novel about survival & bravery that kept me thinking if i had as much courage as these year 12 students had at a school in Somerset high school in England, the principal Mr Marr lies critically injured in the library two students know first aid as its compulsory for their year, the girl Hannah covers herself over him she takes off her hoody but silence is the best option as a gunman remains at large in the corridor.