Good things come in threes

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, for example

I am sputtering about here and there, trying to attack an epic trilogy of novels by Spanish novelist José María Gironella. Really, the series has a total of four books, but only the first three of them available in English.

• The Cypresses Believe in God (Los cipreses creen en Dios). Published in English in 1955.

• One Million Dead (Un millón de muertos). Eng…