Three strangers, connected only by a mesmerizing painting named Three Guesses, embark on an extraordinary journey of friendship. Compelled by their agreement to communicate only by mail, Sam Brooks of Memphis, Tennessee, Richard Mabry of Phoenix, Arizona, and Pete Wren of New York City reveal surprisingly intimate, personal details in a series of letters over the course of seven years. Then, as each contends with critical turning points in their lives, the unlikely trio breaks their mail-only pact and makes a life-changing decision to finally meet in person at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Humorous and heartbreaking, soulful and breathtaking, Three Guesses celebrates the power of friendship to carry us through the most joyful and the most difficult chapters of our lives.
Praise for Three Guesses
“In Chris McClain Johnson’s wildly entertaining and smart epistolary novella, Three Guesses, an unpredictable friendship is forged between three unlikely characters. When they meet, each is like a ‘lost character’ in a story or ‘missing comma’ in a poem, yet through their honest exchanges, they not only find each other but themselves. Frequently lyrical and rife with poems and stories, this intimate and funny book is filled with longing and heart. One of the three characters writes: ‘We’re all falling all the time. Some of us are lucky enough to have someone or something to catch us before we hit the ground.’ This at first hapless trio discovers they are not only willing, but able and eager to catch each other, and they not only catch but enthrall readers too. This book will move you. It will make you both plummet and rise with the love and hope strangers can and should bring to each other’s lives. Three Guesses restores and reinforces faith in humanity.”
—Deirdre Fagan, author of Find a Place for Me and Phantom Limbs
“In a day of instant communication and surface relationships, it is refreshing to read of a deep connection that evolves through old-fashioned ‘snail mail.’ Chris McClain Johnson weaves a gentle, slow-building ode to the transformative power of the written word in this lovely novella. She deftly draws readers into three distinct characters’ lives, and the result is a testament not only to the power of words, but also to the healing prospect of genuine, authentic friendship. I didn’t want it to end.”
—Tracey D. Buchanan, author of the award-winning Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace
“Intensely clever and often laugh-out-loud funny, Three Guesses features a trio of lost souls who braid themselves together, bit by bit, during a rollicking seven-year `grownup pen pal adventure.’ Unfurled through a series of letters, Chris McClain Johnson’s novella explores the relentless human quest for love and belonging in heartbreaking, hilarious detail, enriched by razor-sharp, often achingly beautiful prose. A quirky, restless temporary worker, `SB,’ triggers a prolonged letter-writing volley by contacting two strangers—art buyer Richard and artist Pete—regarding a painting that gives this book its title. After a frosty start, the three disclose profound truths about their lives and the people they have loved and lost. As each new truth is revealed, an urgent question arises. Readers will keep flipping pages, ever faster, eager to learn the fate of Johnson’s irresistible trio.”
—Ginger Pinholster, author of Snakes of St. Augustine
“Chris Johnson’s Three Guesses is a gem. Allowing the reader into the lives of her characters through a series of letters, Johnson offers the reader a chance to participate in a communal sharing. Three lives celebrate, grieve, love and lose, vanish and reappear. They connect and open up to each other, and in the process share their lives with the lucky individual reading this literary treasure.”
—David Tankersley, writer, publisher, producer, actor, artist, creative consultant
“Chris Johnson’s Three Guesses begins with tentative communication among three strangers, centered on a work of art by one of the three… From its terse beginnings it becomes something else: a strange, moving, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes exuberant narrative… The prose is sparkling and moves as fast as the sweet lines of a pop song. This is a sly and witty commentary on contemporary friendship. It’s also a confident, joy-filled, compelling work of bookish entertainment.”
—Corey Mesler, author of Memphis Movie and The World is Neither Stacked For Nor Against You: Selected Short Stories
“Three Guesses reminds us friendship, and family, can be found in the most unusual ways.”
—Jodie Vance, publisher of Memphis Downtowner magazine
“Three Guesses is an absolute delight. As Sam, Richard, and Pete get to know each other through increasingly intimate letters, they open themselves up to the universe at large. Even with their faults and foibles, these characters are relatable, lovable, and so very human. My favorite quote from Three Guesses sums it up: ‘People are supposed to find out about each other from each other.’ I’m still smiling about this uplifting novella, which reminds us so beautifully that surprising connections can ripen between people searching for friendship.”
—Heather Bell Adams, author of Maranatha Road and The Good Luck Stone
“What a lovely story! I feel as though I know each of the participants. The premise was unique, the story unfolded in a believable and very human way, and the ending was perfect.”
—Willy Bearden, filmmaker, photographer, author, producer
“Three strangers linked by chance through a mysterious painting forge an unlikely friendship in a years-long exchange of letters. Ghosts haunt this story—missing parents, palpable absences, destructive pasts that hover over the characters’ present lives. Identities are assumed, then shed; running away becomes running toward. In Three Guesses, Chris McClain Johnson has crafted a novella that is a song to the groundedness and salvation that human connection provides.”
—Cynthia Reeves, author of The Last Whaler and Falling Through the New World
