Three Hours: The Top Ten Sunday Times Bestseller

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Rosamund Lupton begins this superb novel that could have been ripped from our troubled world's recent news headlines, with the above quote, for in the midst of the nightmare that descends on a rural Somerset school on a cold, dark and snowy November morning, teachers and children's lives are to be changed forever. Their courage, love, fortitude and sense of community rises to the surface as their innocence is shattered in the face of the worst of people riddled with the cancer of an all consuming hatred. Lupton drops the reader right slap bang into the middle of the terror of the school taken over by well armed gunmen, shooting the kind and compassionate Head, Matthew Marr, who is dragged into the library by students. It is the brave Rafi Burkhani, suffering PTSD, a casualty of war torn Syria, who recognises a small explosion in the wood as a bomb, informing the Head, driven by his love of his younger, emotionally damaged brother, Basi, and his need to save him and others. A Somerset school is under siege, it has been taken over by armed gunmen who have shot the headmaster Mathew Marr. Pupils at the school have barricaded themselves in their classrooms. There has been a snow storm and the police and emergency services are struggling to attend and are trying to find out who has a grudge against the school. Is it a disgruntled ex employee or pupil? Lupton is skilled at entering a child’s mind, as well as a parent’s, and at showing how crisis and danger can change you and allow you to discover aspects of yourself and your child that you didn’t know were there. In Three Hours, a mother who's desperate to know if her son is safe remembers feeling jealous of his potential girlfriends the day before: “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.”

Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part We flip between numerous characters, from the students and teachers to the police officers and detectives hired to deal with the situation. From Hallie Rubenhold to Rosamund Lupton, books are starting to uncover the narratives podcasts and TV often leave behind: those belonging not the perpetrator, but the people whose lives they ruin.There is so much I loved about this book, Rafi and his love for his younger brother Basi the trauma they escaped and their heartbreaking journey to the UK. The selfless actions of Neil Forbright and the kind-hearted headmaster Mr Marr. The weather is almost a character itself within story line - as it's instrumental in obstructing police surveillance and causing severe delays when it comes to bringing the siege to an end. Instead, she accepts him as he is – shy, lonely, unconfident. And in Afterwards, a mother, previously infuriated at her daughter for not working hard at school or caring about getting into university, can, under terrible pressure, discover her other, valuable qualities and see her as an independent being. In The Quality of Silence, a mother realises that pleading with her ten-year-old deaf child to “use her mouth voice” is misguided – sign language, her laptop and social media answer her real needs. Lupton herself has been partially deaf since childhood. The ‘police procedural’ side of things did not daunt the reader and held some fascinating insights into what happens in these situations There was an ongoing theme of a ‘mystery’ gunman and after reading the ending 4 times I cant seem to figure out who it was or if we were ever actually told who it was, anyone who has read it and worked it out please let me know

An explosion is heard from the woods behind the school, from there unravel a series of events including gunshots and further explosions. Oh no! I’m still breathing heavy! It’s stunningly hooking, terrifyingly growing on you and even though the high tension story building gave you nightmares and so many times you want to scream and say; “enough is enough”(as like most Americans say right now!!), taking breaks to clear your mind, you cannot put it down because you have to… correction: You need to see what’s gonna happen next.

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Powerful, heavy topics are described; the fear, the tension, and suspense, but I was unable to engage with the characters, the emotions, and heroic acts of courage. After a promising beginning, this was a dramatic, topical story that plodded along and fell flat for me. Instead of feeling the drama, I became a detached observer. So many characters and perspectives were introduced that it was confusing to recall who everyone was and where they were located. I was not feeling connected with the characters in the way I wanted to be. I read about the actions of various teachers, the unbelievable calm of most of the school children, the helplessness of their parents, and the police proceedings.

Here are some great pre-set timers ready to use. They range from a 1 second timer - up to a year timer! It's pointless - but you asked for it! :-) Characters include the Headmaster and Deputy Head, Detective Inspector Rose Polstein, a parent waiting anxiously for news of her son, Hannah, who is doing her best to care for Mr Marr and her boyfriend, Syrian refugee, Rafi Bukhari and his younger brother, Basi.I am glad I got the chance to be part of the blog tour for Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton. I was reading this book while I was on a plane, travelling to Macedonia, and it was a great adventure all the way through. In all honesty, I enjoyed it a lot, but it didn’t make my favourites list. Pre-schoolers should spend at least 180 minutes (3 hours) a day doing a variety of physical activities spread throughout the day, including active and outdoor play. The more the better. A secular school in the English countryside is targeted by masked gunmen who shot the Headmaster and threaten the children. The book covers a three hour span during which the children barricade themselves inside the school and police is trying to negotiate with the gunmen to prevent any more shots being fired.

You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side. 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. Although the timeline for this story is short, it delivers a chilling and mesmerising read. A tale of courage in adversity. Loved how the drama teacher encourages the pupils to rehearse their play Macbet, to keep their minds off this dangerous situations. There are some fantastic characters in the book - some of the teachers Matthew Marr the brave head and his equally brave deputy Neil, Daphne the drama teacher, Jacinta the English teacher who read beautiful poetry to her students to distract them, student Hannah and one of the mums, Beth. Daphne is rehearsing Macbeth with the students when the drama starts and I love the recurring use of the Scottish play which creates some of the most powerful images and the students see that the events in the play mirror events outside the theatre and the end of the book ‘we were Burnham Wood coming up the hill to Dunsinane, marching to the beat of three words’ is just such an example. That image will stay with me for a long time. Their bravery is humbling.

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Its very difficult to say what is good, what is bad, which parts were thrilling and which parts were not so without giving any of the plot away and thus ruining the element(s) of surprise throughout the book! ( a cop out anno but there you go!) however what I will say is that the book is ( as maybe you would expect via the subject ) political and at times this becomes a bit overpowering! Three hours from sundown is close to the end of a day. Returning home ("to the cave") from whatever meaningless existence the characters have - they reflect on what their lives are for. It is a rather dark, uncomforting song, but then so is the quest for the meaning of your life. Being physically active every day is important for the healthy growth and development of babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers.