Publication Date: April 8, 2025
Set during the excitement and tumult of the second wave of feminism and the sexual revolution, this coming-of-age novel about female friendship in the 1970s will appeal to fans of Kristin Hannah’s Firefly Lane.
It’s 1976, the second wave of feminism is in full swing, and three cousins share an apartment at Yale. Two are seniors; the third is starting graduate school. Each is seeking her own path in both love and work—but all three women, not quite knowing how to use the new freedoms available to them, alternate between supporting and undermining each other in their efforts.
Julia, the most conventional of the three, wants the security of her monogamous relationship with Ben but is attracted to other men. Anna plans on traveling the world to escape her boyfriend and alcoholic mother. Robin, who is bisexual, has various partners as she dreams of open relationships. All fall under the spell of a charismatic musician, Michael, who is too wounded to be available. By the end of a year of experiments and necessary mistakes, the cousins will make crucial decisions that will determine the course of the rest of their lives.
This prequel to Levine’s first two critically acclaimed novels, The Geometry of Love and Nothing Forgotten, dramatizes the struggles that women have faced and continue to face while entering adulthood in a world not quite ready to accept them as equals.
Jessica Levine brings us back to the 1970s, not so much in the physical setting, but the mindset. Three Cousins is told in the voice of three different young women in their early 20s.
The young women are not only related but also share a commonality in that their upbringings were all led by mothers of a generation that feels completely out of touch with their young ideals. Now, the girls will come together to finish their schooling in a rented apartment.
The story leans heavily toward the stereotypical restlessness of the early 70s—the struggle for women to find their voice, the idea that monogamy isn’t something to commit to early in life, and although not openly admitted, the experience of same-sex love is accepted.
As the story unfolds, one cousin seems more free-spirited, but eventually, all three spread their wings in different ways. The plot moves very quickly between lovers, which feels more like a whim, but this could be how young adults move through relationships at that time.
As the reader, I found it much easier to follow these women’s uncertainty as they try to push against the norms set for women in their relationships with their mothers and as they reach decisions relating to career paths.
The end of the book notes that a follow-up novel is available for what lies ahead for two characters, and soon, one will be available for the third character.
Three Cousins interprets the restlessness of young women in the early 70s as they push against the boundaries of previous generations. 
Jessica Levine is the author of three novels constituting The Cousins Series. Interconnected, they can be read in sequence or as standalones. Three Cousins is the first in the series and a prequel to the others. Both The Geometry of Love and Nothing Forgotten made Booklist’s Top 10 Women’s Fiction list. She is also the author of Delicate Pursuit: Discretion in Henry James and Edith Wharton. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was a Mellow Fellow. She has been working as a hypnotherapist since 2005.
