A Trio of Sophies

Author(s): Eileen Merriman

NZ Young Adult Fiction

Secrets, lies and love. A missing girl, a secret diary and unsettling revelations . . . Today is the first of September, the first day of spring, and it’s been sixty-four days since I last saw Sophie Abercrombie. It's been sixty-four days since anyone saw Sophie Abercrombie. The prettiest Sophie. The missing Sophie. As Sophie MacKenzie - Mac - confides to her diary, she last saw Sophie Abercrombie kissing James Bacon, their English teacher. Mac has passed this on to the police, but there is plenty she knows about James Bacon that she has kept to herself. She hasn’t even told Twiggy, the third Sophie in their once tightknit threesome. The Trio of Sophies is no more.

Ruth's Review:


Sophie Abercrombie, Sophie MacKenzie and Sophie Twiggs (Twiggy) have been best friends since they were 9 years old. But now Sophie A is missing and the relationship between Sophie M and Twiggy has become rather strained. Sophie M told police she last saw Sophie A more than two months ago, sitting in a car kissing their English teacher Mr Bacon, but are there any other secrets about James Bacon that she is hiding?

Sophie M's diary gradually reveals what happened from Day 64 to Day Zero - and beyond. It's a riveting plot structure that ramps up the tension. But as the police investigation slowly unravels new evidence, we realise that someone is lying.

Chilling, but compulsive reading, anyone who enjoyed E Lockhart's We Were Liars and Karen McManus' One of Us is Lying will be captivated by the suspense that builds in this twisty tale of jealousy and revenge. The illicit teacher-pupil relationship is integral to the plot, but never romanticised, and the characters are so well drawn, especially the rather prickly and complicated Sophie M and her supportive boyfriend Will.

Merriman is such a talented writer, each of her other YA novels - Pieces of You, Catch Me When You Fall and Invisibly Breathing - are very different in subject and tone, but all wonderful reads that tackle gritty and unsettling subjects with compassion and flair. I love them all but think A Trio of Sophies is her best, and most shocking, yet. Absolutely ideal for age 14+

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Product Information

Eileen Merriman’s three young adult novels, Pieces of You, Catch Me When You Fall, and Invisibly Breathing, were finalists in the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2018 and 2019, and both Pieces of You and Catch Me When You Fall are Storylines Notable Books. Her first adult novel, Moonlight Sonata, was released in July 2019, with reviewers calling it ‘skilfully crafted’, and a ‘carefully layered and thoughtful drama, with beautifully observed and believable Kiwi characters’. Her other awards include runner-up in the 2018 Sunday Star-Times Short Story Award, third for three consecutive years in the 2014-2016 Sunday Star-Times Short Story Awards, second in the 2015 Bath Flash Fiction Award, commended in the 2015 Bath Short Story Competition, and first place in the 2015 Graeme Lay Short Story Competition. She works full-time as a consultant haematologist at North Shore Hospital.

General Fields

  • : 9780143774082
  • : Penguin Canada
  • : Penguin Canada
  • : 0.274
  • : December 2019
  • : 2.1 Centimeters X 13 Centimeters X 19.6 Centimeters
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Eileen Merriman
  • : Paperback
  • : 2003
  • : 823.3
  • : 288