Three Keys

A Novel

By: Laura Pritchett

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman

Newly widowed and unemployed, a woman in her mid-fifties sets off on a journey of trespassing and adventure through the American West and beyond in Three Keys, a witty, thought-provoking novel from the PEN USA Award–winning writer.

“Filled with award-winner Pritchett’s electric prose and love of the natural world, Three Keys is irresistible.”—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Days of Wonder1

Becoming invisible is painful . . . unless you know how to work it.

Ammalie Brinks has just lost the three keys of her life’s purpose—her husband, her job, and her role as a mom, after her son went off to college. She’s also mystified to find herself in middle age: How exactly had that happened? The terrifying idea of becoming irrelevant, invisible, of letting her life slip away Into obscurity, has her driving distracted through Nebraska with a broken plastic fork in her tangled hair.

But what Ammalie has found are three literal keys, saved in a drawer for years, from her and her husband’s past. They are the keys to homes that she hopes will be empty—and plans on spending time in. Embarking on an international and increasingly complicated journey (criminal behavior turns out to be challenging!), she seeks to find a life truly her own. And that middle-age business? As someone breaking the law, Ammalie finds there's a real benefit to being invisible when you’re working on becoming the striking, bold, and very much manifested self you want to be.

Laura Pritchett, winner of the PEN USA Award for Fiction and the Colorado Book Award, offers a delightful exploration of the very serious business of living a full and honest life. Filled with love, heartbreak, and misdemeanors, Three Keys tackles the unavoidable sorrows and joys experienced during a second coming of age with the zest and vigor that it deserves.

©2024 Laura Pritchett (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Laura Pritchett gives us an unforgettable portrait of a woman—every woman—who has lived a life for others and needs to start living for herself. Recently widowed Ammalie isn’t entirely sure how she feels about her late husband and so sets off to find him in the places he most loved. Fancying herself a fugitive, not deserving of society, she finds instead a world full of grace and compassion—for herself, her journey, and for all who grieve. This is a beautiful, funny, meditative novel that will bring you to tears with its optimism.”—Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of California Golden and The Swans of Fifth Avenue

“In her mid-fifties, everything about Ammalie’s life changes. She knew the empty nest was coming, but the loss of her job and her husband’s sudden death are brutal, unexpected blows. Reeling, she sets off on a trip she doesn’t quite know how to define. Is it a quest or an escape? A crime spree or a hero’s journey? Pritchett has written a beautiful, age-defying story about discovering your inextricable connection to the whole wide world. This is a book to hold close not only while you read, but as you march into your own battles against the joys and terrors of a life in constant motion.”—Nina de Gramont, author of The Christie Affair

“How could I not adore a book featuring a strong, feisty, fifty-something woman, who despite being widowed, unemployed, and empty-nested, goes out on the road to break into three very different homes she just happens to have the keys to? Audacious and inspiring, Three Keys isn’t just about breaking in, it’s about breaking out, of finding the person you were meant to be all along, despite anyone else’s expectations or insistence that you be invisible. Filled with award-winner Pritchett’s electric prose and love of the natural world, this book is irresistible.”—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder

An unlikely, honest story about coming into your own.

I really enjoyed the poetic writing, the beautiful relationships and the things that Amelie learned during her journey.

A universally honest epic on aging and renewal

Page after page, I found myself encountering moments in my own life, both in the shattering of self and in the possibility—a lifelong quiet yearning—for something more.
In Amelie, we get to live into adventures, encounters, relationships, outside of work, marriage, and parenting. We get to take on our fears and grow, transform. We get to indulge dreams far beyond what our deceptively rigid culture places upon us, what our society expects of us. "Us". Women that have aged out of 'the male gaze' we were trained to live into.
Three Keys feels like the tired, knowing, shared gaze between female comrades in the unspoken battle against feminine power—a reassuring hug and a wink that we'll get through it in the way women do. Not with masculine force or retaliation, but with un-cliched love, risky kindness, naked courage, and tender honesty. On the other side? Our truer, brighter, freer selves.
I devoured it~

Believable! I’m envious!

Likes it all!! Flows well and is believable! I may set out on my own adventure now!

Delightful, hilarious and full of truth

Yours is an absolute delight to listen to, Pritchett Taos us on a wild adventure of self discovery and healing. I can’t recommend this book enough!

Adventurous and relatable!

Kept me listening. Love the storyline and narrator. Bonus points for references to the West. Pritchett is one of my favorite authors and this is her best book yet!

love the narration!

What a joy to hear this book read exactly as I had imagined it! Grateful to the whole team.

Not Pritchett's Best Work

Laura Pritchett is a super talented, award-winning writer and the director of the MFA in Nature Writing at Western State—definitely someone whose work I admire. Plus, she is genuinely lovely (check out her accomplishments and publications at (https://www.laurapritchett.com/)).

That said, I have to admit I was disappointed with "Three Keys."
The idea of a mild-mannered middle-aged woman sneaking into empty residences with a collection of stolen keys sounded like great fun, a road trip romp with plenty of opportunities or goofs and shenanigans! But instead of laughs, I found myself scratching my head, wondering if we were expected to root for someone with a talent for compulsive lying and manipulation, playing the "grieving widow card." Seriously?

Ammalie makes some ill-advised choices, like tearing out barbed wire to “save” a tree—hello, pine tree anatomy? And her rationalizations for cutting fences and driving over desert terrain to maybe aid some desperate migrants -- that kind of turned my stomach.

While Pritchett does showcase some beautiful prose, "Three Keys" feels more like a lecture on feminism, environmentalism, and social justice than an engaging story. It’s like the book is yelling at us about important issues rather than inviting us into a captivating journey that might lead a reader to reevaluate assumptions, which is what Pritchett's writing can do.