Can anyone tell me the title of this book?

[Jusfloatingby]

I remember reading a book years ago that I'd love to re-read. It followed the lives of three school friends who had been thrown together because the rest of their class had been killed in a bus crash on their way home from a school outing. Two of the girls had been off school that day and the other was the only survivor of the crash. The girls were called Beatrice, Joanne and (I think) Madeleine. Beatrice got married to an older man and had several children and Joanne became a univeristy lecturer.

[KeemaNaanAndCurryOn]

No idea, but it sounds like a good book so I'm shamelessly marking my place.

[TheAccidentalExhibitionist]

Sunds like a great theme for a book, I want to know what it's called too!

[Chewbecca]

Is it The Sweet Hereafter?

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

Don't know...thought for a moment it was Since I don't Have You by Louise Candlish but that's about a woman who's daughter was killed in a school coach trip....

Sounds good though so also marking place.

[Parisbanana]

I too have no idea but if I read that review in a paper/magazine, it would go on my "to read" list

[Jusfloatingby]

I think the surname of the writer was Atkinson or McArdle but not sure.
The Sweet hereafter isn't ringing bells.

[Jusfloatingby]

It's called 'A Move in the Game' and it's by Kathleen Conlon. Don't know where I got atkinson or mcardle from.

Googled it loads of times under various key words and could never find it. Came up just now. Amazing!!

[Jusfloatingby]

Here is the description for those interested:

One September day in 1960 a coach crash wiped out most of the high-school sixth form in a small North Country town. Linked thereafter by the fact of their survival were three girls very different in background and temperament: rich, spoilt, beautiful, unloved Beatrice; Joanna, who knew all the answers; and Madeleine, who knew none of them. For the next seventeen years their lives and those of their men formed a complex, ever-changing pattern as they pursued careers or opted out of the rat race; married or remained uncommitted; had children, and love-affairs; found themselves. What they found was not always what they expected. Therein lies much of the fascination of this skilfully constructed novel, which is at once a story of immense appeal to women of all ages, and a detailed yet subtle evocation of the years 1960-77, which brought about so many changes, social and personal, in the lives of Beatrice, Joanna, Madeleine, and indeed in all our lives.

[DuchessofMalfi]

I'm so glad you found your book Jusfloatingby :) I remember reading another book by Kathleen Conlon called My Father's House years ago. That was good too.

[Jusfloatingby]

Thanks Duchess.
Must check out My Father's House.

[myflabberisgasted]

Thanks OP I have just ordered this book from Amazon, sounds right up my street!

[Jusfloatingby]

Let me know what you think of it myflabber