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Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton: book club questions

Rosamund Lupton, author of Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, Three Hours, has pulled together some great quotations from her novel to kick start discussions at your next book club meeting.

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton

From the bestselling author of Sister comes an electrifying, pulse-racing new novel that takes us deep into the heart of what it means to be human. Set around a school shooting in rural Somerset, this powerful literary thriller explores humanity's capacity for courage, love and redemption in the face of terror.

Three Hours is the perfect book club pick, exploring a range of issues, from extremism and terror, to love and relationships. We've pulled together some questions, alongside some some great quotations from the book chosen by Lupton, to kick start your bookclub meeting.

Warning: Contains spoilers

‘She wonders for a moment how many stories are playing out here simultaneously, connected by time and place’ – Rose

The novel uses numerous points of view including Matthew Marr, Hannah, Rafi, Basi, Beth, and Rose. What was your experience of reading a novel with many different points of view? Did you find it enriched the story? Was there a particular character or story that you related to? 

’It was as if the gunman has taken control of time and stretched it’ - Neil

‘Rose has often been under time pressure in her career, but time has always been digital before, not seconds as grains of sand running through an hour glass.’ 

What do you think of a novel being set over only three hours? Did it intensify the reading experience for you? Do you think the teachers and students trapped inside the school experience time differently to the police outside the school? 

‘Another shot. Hannah was pulling him inside the library, she must have waited by the door; a habit of waiting by doors. Brave girl. Why didn’t he know about this courage of his students?- Matthew

‘Camille’s colleagues say that she’s sensitive and artistic; their surveillance footage shows that she is also brave and indefatigable.’

Do you think that the novel is primarily about terror or about courage? And are the two linked? Do you think that the author challenges the idea of young people as ‘snowflakes’? Was there any instance of courage that particularly resonated with you? 

‘She’d had no idea then of the love she had for Jamie, had assumed it was possessive, grasping, but the make-up of her love is not like that at all ‘– Beth 

‘when she thinks about Rafi Bukhari she wonders what kind of parent she’ll be’ – Rose 

What kinds of love are there in the book? Was there a particular relationship that moved you? Which did you think was the stronger driver in the book, the hatred of the terrorists, or the love of the victims?

‘..the present was the floor you trod on, all fine and oblivious, and then – BAM! a hole – and you fell down into the past.’ Rafi 

What did you think of Rafi’s relationship with his brother? Do you think that Rafi and Basi are central to the story? Do you think they are fully part of their new community?

Three Hours is out in paperback 29 October 2020.

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