Sweet Sorrow: The Long-Awaited New Novel from the Best-Selling Author of One Day

Description: Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls From the best-selling author of One Day comes a bittersweet and brilliantly funny coming-of-age tale about the heart-stopping thrill of first love--and how just one summer can forever change a life. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description "A tale of first love that hits all the right notes . . . [it] just might be the sweetest book to brighten your late summer." --The Washington Post "Dazzles with wit."--People From the bestselling author of One Day comes a bittersweet and brilliantly funny coming-of-age tale about the heart-stopping thrill of first love--and how one summer can forever change a life.Now: On the verge of marriage and a fresh start, thirty-eight year old Charlie Lewis finds that he cant stop thinking about the past, and the events of one particular summer.Then: Sixteen-year-old Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you dont remember in the school photograph. Hes failing his classes. At home he looks after his depressed father--when surely it should be the other way round--and if he thinks about the future at all, it is with a kind of dread.But when Fran Fisher bursts into his life and despite himself, Charlie begins to hope.In order to spend time with Fran, Charlie must take on a challenge that could lose him the respect of his friends and require him to become a different person. He must join the Company. And if the Company sounds like a cult, the truth is even more appalling: The price of hope, it seems, is Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet learned and performed in a theater troupe over the course of a summer.Now: Charlie cant go the altar without coming to terms with his relationship with Fran, his friends, and his former self. Poignant, funny, enchanting, devastating, Sweet Sorrow is a tragicomedy about the rocky path to adulthood and the confusion of family life, a celebration of the reviving power of friendship and that brief, searing explosion of first love that can only be looked at directly after it has burned out. Author Biography David Nicholls is the best-selling author of Us, One Day, The Understudy and Starter for Ten. His novels have sold over eight million copies worldwide and are published in forty languages. Nicholls trained as an actor before making the switch to writing, and he recently won a BAFTA for Patrick Melrose, his adaptation of the novels by Edward St Aubyn, which also won him an Emmy nomination. He lives in London. Review "This eloquent coming-of-age story set in the U.K. dazzles with wit and shrewd self-reflection."--People "A tale of first love that hits all the right notes . . . [it] just might be the sweetest book to brighten your late summer."--The Washington Post "Delectable . . . Nicholls treats you to a satisfying glimpse into the future, where characters make a curtain call as adults . . . Bombshells abound."--New York Times Book Review "Few writers can tug at a readers heartstrings like David Nicholls, and on this occasion he comes close to snapping a couple . . . A charming, evocative and searingly beautiful tale."--The Star Tribune "With fully fleshed-out characters, terrific dialogue, bountiful humor, and genuinely affecting scenes, this is really the full package of a rewarding, romantic read."--Booklist, starred review "With his usual grace, Nicholls (Us; One Day) plumbs human relationships, this time offering a singular reading experience about one young mans fraught coming of age . . . Nicholls masterfully unfolds events. The depth of feeling between friends, family members, and lovers, first time or not--Nicholls captures it all. Highly recommended."--Library Journal, starred review "Nicholls excels at capturing Charlies insecurity, the messy exuberance of first love, and the coarseness of teenage male friendships . . . A good deal of fun."--Publishers Weekly "David Nicholls Sweet Sorrow perfectly captures the intensity of first love, the beauty of a chosen family, and the complexity of transforming from a teenager to an adult. These are characters Ill be thinking about for a long time to come."--Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost "A beautiful paean to young love. . . Sweet Sorrow is a book that does what Nicholls does best, sinking the reader deep into a nostalgic memory-scape, pinning the narrative to a love story that manages to be moving without ever tipping over into sentimentality, all of it composed with deftness, intelligence and, most importantly, humour. We may think of Nicholls as a writer of heartbreakers-One Day prompted many poolside tears - but he has always been a comic novelist and Sweet Sorrow is full of passages of laugh-out-loud Inbetweeners-ish humour. . .Here he proves that he can still pull off that most rare and coveted of literary feats: a popular novel of serious merit, a bestseller that will also endure." --Guardian "Nicholls literary talents are impressive . . . the sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending."--The Sunday Times "A compassionate, intelligent look at the raw pain and loneliness of a teenage boy, the everyday miracle of first love and the perennial power of Shakespeares language."--Spectator "Sweet Sorrow [is] . . . an ideal blend of the gently humorous and utterly heartfelt. It made me feel like something had swollen up inside my chest, and readers are liable to find their thoughts drifting over their own misspent school holidays or crushingly ardent first loves. Bag a copy immediately, because this has got "perfect summer read" smeared all over it like so much fac -- Review Quote "With fully fleshed-out characters, terrific dialogue, bountiful humor, and genuinely affecting scenes, this is really the full package of a rewarding, romantic read." -- Booklist , starred review "With his usual grace, Nicholls ( Us ; One Day ) plumbs human relationships, this time offering a singular reading experience about one young mans fraught coming of age . . . Nicholls masterfully unfolds events. The depth of feeling between friends, family members, and lovers, first time or not--Nicholls captures it all. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal , starred review "Nicholls excels at capturing Charlies insecurity, the messy exuberance of first love, and the coarseness of teenage male friendships . . . A good deal of fun." -- Publishers Weekly "David Nicholls Sweet Sorrow perfectly captures the intensity of first love, the beauty of a chosen family, and the complexity of transforming from a teenager to an adult. These are characters Ill be thinking about for a long time to come." --Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost "A beautiful paean to young love. . . Sweet Sorrow is a book that does what Nicholls does best, sinking the reader deep into a nostalgic memory-scape, pinning the narrative to a love story that manages to be moving without ever tipping over into sentimentality, all of it composed with deftness, intelligence and, most importantly, humour. We may think of Nicholls as a writer of heartbreakers- One Day prompted many poolside tears - but he has always been a comic novelist and Sweet Sorrow is full of passages of laugh-out-loud Inbetweeners -ish humour. . .Here he proves that he can still pull off that most rare and coveted of literary feats: a popular novel of serious merit, a bestseller that will also endure." -- Guardian "Nicholls literary talents are impressive . . . the sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending." -- The Sunday Times "A compassionate, intelligent look at the raw pain and loneliness of a teenage boy, the everyday miracle of first love and the perennial power of Shakespeares language." -- Spectator " Sweet Sorrow [is] . . . an ideal blend of the gently humorous and utterly heartfelt. It made me feel like something had swollen up inside my chest, and readers are liable to find their thoughts drifting over their own misspent school holidays or crushingly ardent first loves. Bag a copy immediately, because this has got "perfect summer read" smeared all over it like so much factor 30." -- Independent "[Nicholls] remains one of the most acute chroniclers of England as it is now...and few can rival his grasp of the periods minor-key class signifiers...And of course the novel skips along merrily; the repartee frequently sparkles, the jokes are genuinely funny, walk-on characters are brilliantly sketched into life, and his genuine affection for the main players is evident throughout." -- Financial Times "Adrian Mole meets The Swish Of The Curtain in this lovely coming-of-age romcom about acting and the class divide." -- Daily Mail "The author of Us and of course One Day has never written with more tenderness and insight than in this bittersweet story... perfectly captures the dizzying highs and lows of first love." -- Daily Express "Hes such a genius. His novels are relatable and recognizable, but also surprising, breath-taking and life-enhancing." --Nina Stibbe "A richly observed, bitterly funny novel about the lingering grip of adolescent love." -- Metro "Poignant and insightful." --Belfast Telegraph "Piercingly observant, gloriously funny and achingly sad, this is David Nicholls best book yet." -- Daily Mirror "The lines come thick and fast throughout the novel, but they do not compromise the emotional core of social alienation, young love and (minor spoiler) what we think in retrospect. In all, it is a bravura performance from someone with a track record in fashioning books that are both eminently readable and emotionally subtle. Sweet Sorrow manages to be interesting, moving, hilarious, and sad at the same time." -- Scotland on Sunday "Full of the joy and pain of first love, fans who fell for bestseller One Day 10 years ago, wont be disappointed." --Sunday Mirror "If ever there was an author perfect to take with you on holiday (so to speak), its David Nicholls. Make space in your case." --Telegraph "Nicholls avoids sentimentality or mawkishness to capture perfectly the angst, the pain and the awkwardness of falling in love for the first time." --The Bookseller "Nineties nostalgia backdrops a story that feels so authentic, it could be a memoir." -- iPaper "Tellingly captures the giddy confusion of first love mired in family turbulence and the bewilderment of making decisions, and not knowing if things will land the way you want them to. Endearing and nostalgic, it nudges your 16-year-old self into being. A delicious, pensive summer read." --Press Association Excerpt from Book The End of the World The world would end at five to four, just after the disco. Our final day at Merton Grange Secondary School had arrived, brilliant and bright and commencing with skirmishes at the gates; school ties worn as bandanas and tourniquets, in knots as compact as a walnut or fat as a fist, with enough lipstick and jewelry and dyed blue hair to resemble some futuristic nightclub scene. What were the teachers going to do on our last day, send us home? They sighed and waved us through. The last week of formal lessons had been spent in desultory, dispiriting classes about something called "adult life," which would, it seemed, consist largely of filling in forms and compiling a CV ("Hobbies and Interests: Socializing, watching television"). We learned how to balance a checkbook. We stared out of the window at the lovely day and thought, not long now. Four, three, two . . . Back in our form room at break we began to graffiti our white school shirts with felt-tips and Magic Markers, kids hunched over each others backs like tattooists in a Russian jail, marking all available space with sentimental abuse. Take care of yourself, you dick, wrote Paul Fox. This shirt stinks, wrote Chris Lloyd. In a lyrical mood, my best friend Martin Harper wrote mates4ever beneath a finely detailed cock and balls. Harper and Fox and Lloyd. These were my best friends at the time, not just boys but the boys--the group was self-sufficient and impenetrable. Though none of us played an instrument, wed imagined ourselves as a band. Harper, we all knew, was lead guitar and vocals. Fox was bass, a low and basic thump-thump-thump. Lloyd, because he proclaimed himself "mad," was the drummer, which left me as . . . "Maracas," Lloyd had said, and wed laughed, and "maracas" was added to the long list of nicknames. Fox drew them on my school shirt now, maracas crossed beneath a skull, like military insignia. Mr. Ambrose, feet up on the desk, kept his eyes fixed on the video of Free Willy 2 that played in the background, a special treat ignored by everyone. In our final assembly, Mr. Pascoe made the speech that wed all expected, encouraging us to look to the future but remember the past, to aim high but weather the lows, to believe in ourselves but think of others. The important thing was not only what wed learned--and he hoped wed learned a great deal!--but also the kind of young adults wed become, and we listened, young adults, stuck between cynicism and sentimentality, boisterous on the surface but secretly daunted and sad. We sneered and rolled our eyes but elsewhere in the hall hands gripped other hands and snuffles were heard as we were urged to cherish the friendships wed made, the friendships that would last a lifetime. "A lifetime? Christ, I hope not," said Fox, locking my head beneath his arm, fondly rubbing his knuckles there. It was prize-giving time, and we sank low in our chairs. Prizes were awarded to the kids who always got the prizes, applause fading long before theyd left the stage to stand in front of the photographer from the local press, book tokens held beneath the chin as if in an ID parade. We sank lower in our chairs until horizontal, then, when it was over, we shuffled out to have our photo taken. But I realize how absent I am from the above. I remember the day well enough even across twenty years, but when I try to describe my role, I find myself reaching for what I saw and heard, rather than anything I said or did. "What were you like?" my future wife would later ask, "before we met?" and Id struggle to reply. As a student, my distinctive feature was a lack of distinction. "Charlie works hard to meet basic standards and for the most part achieves them"; this was as good as it got, and even that slight reputation had been dimmed by events of the exam season. Not admired but not despised, not adored but not feared; I was not a bully, though I knew a fair few, but did not intervene or place myself between the pack and the victim, because I wasnt brave either. I neither conformed nor rebelled, collaborated nor resisted; I stayed out of trouble without getting into anything else. Comedy was our great currency, and while I was not a class clown, neither was I witless. I might occasionally get a surprised laugh from the crowd, but my best jokes were either drowned out by someone with a louder voice or came far too late, so that even now, more than twenty years later, I think of things I should have said in 96 or 97. I knew that I was not ugly--someone would have told me--and was vaguely aware of whispers and giggles from huddles of girls, but what use was this to someone with no idea what to say? Id inherited height, and only height, from my father, my eyes, nose, teeth and mouth from Mum--the right way round, said Dad--but Id also inherited his tendency to stoop and round my shoulders in order to take up less space in the world. Some lucky quirk of glands and hormones meant that Id been spared the pulsing spots and boils that literally scarred so many adolescences, and I was neither skinny with anxiety nor plump with the chips and canned drinks that fueled us, but I wasnt confident about my appearance. I wasnt confident about anything at all. Soon it would be time for my friends and me to settle into some role we might plausibly fit, but when I tried to see myself as others saw me (sometimes literally, late at night, staring profoundly into my fathers shaving mirror, hair slicked back), I saw . . . nothing special. In photos of myself from that time, Im reminded of those early incarnations of a cartoon character, the prototypes that resemble the later version but are in some way out of proportion, not quite right. None of which is much help. Imagine, then, another photograph, the school group shot that everybody owns, faces too small to make out without peering closely. Whether its five or fifty years old, theres always a vaguely familiar figure in the middle row, someone with no anecdotes or associations, no scandals or triumphs, to their name. You wonder: who was that? Thats Charlie Lewis. Details ISBN0358248361 Pages 416 Language English Year 2020 ISBN-10 0358248361 ISBN-13 9780358248361 Format Paperback DEWEY 823.92 Publication Date 2020-08-04 UK Release Date 2020-08-04 Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2020-08-04 NZ Release Date 2020-08-04 US Release Date 2020-08-04 Author David Nicholls Imprint Harper Paperbacks Subtitle The Long-Awaited New Novel from the Best-Selling Author of One Day Publisher Harper Paperbacks Audience General Imprint US Harper Paperbacks Publisher US HarperCollins We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:129139656;

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