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Sweet Sorrow

On sale

11th July 2019

Price: £9.99

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Selected: ebook / ISBN-13: 9781444715439

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***Out now: David Nicholls’s new novel YOU ARE HERE***


A NOSTALGIC LOOK AT FIRST LOVE FROM BELOVED BESTSELLER DAVID NICHOLLS


A tragicomedy about the rocky path to adulthood and that one summer that changes your life forever


‘A beautiful paean to young love’
OBSERVER

‘Fizzing’
GUARDIAN

‘A glorious escape to the sunlit uplands of the 1990s’
FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Exquisite’
DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘The sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending’
SUNDAY TIMES

It’s summer 1997, school is over and Charlie Lewis’s life is in shambles. His family is breaking up, his father is falling apart and the long, empty holidays stretch ahead towards an uncertain future.

And then, quite by chance, Charlie meets Fran Fisher and it’s as if a new world has opened before him.

But can it last?


ONE OF BRITAIN’S MOST ACCLAIMED WRITERS


‘One of the most astute chroniclers of England as it is now’
FINANCIAL TIMES

‘An uncanny ability to make us laugh out loud, but also care passionately about his characters’
DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Nicholls writes with such tender precision about love’
THE TIMES

‘No one else writes novels that are both relatable and revelatory in the way he does’
EVENING STANDARD

‘Genuinely brilliant’
NEW STATESMAN

Reviews

Metro
Affirms once again Nicholls' talent for unearthing the special in the ordinary
Clare Mackintosh, author of THE LAST PARTY
Astutely observed, and almost painfully nostalgic, Sweet Sorrow reads like a true story
Sunday Mirror
Full of the joy and pain of first love, fans who fell for bestseller One Day, ten years ago, won't be disappointed
Mail on Sunday
Full of wisdom, poignancy and laughs
John Boyne, author of THE HEART'S INVISIBLE FURIES
Funny, engaging and moving, another triumph from the brilliant David Nicholls
Jenny Colgan, author of THE LITTLE SHOP OF HAPPY-EVER-AFTER
I don't think anyone writing right now captures youth and adolescence better; I'm not sure anyone even gets close
Joanna Cannon, author of WILL YOU READ THIS, PLEASE?
It's everything a story should be. Beautiful and clear and heartfelt, and it will do what all brilliant stories do: it will find the very pinpoint of who you are and it will stay there
Irish Times
A classic coming of age novel with universal truths teased out with remarkable perception
Herald
A master of the bittersweet coming-of-age novel
Literary Review
A big-hearted book with wonderful set-pieces . . . beautifully funny and touching . . . his books always seem as fresh as they are wise and funny
Red
A book that will find its way into your heart and set up home . . . this story perfectly captures the awkwardness and poignancy of first love
Nina Stibbe, author of LOVE, NINA
He's such a genius. His novels are relatable and recognisable, but also surprising, breath-taking and life-enhancing
Jill Mansell, author of SHOULD I TELL YOU?
It's just perfect in every way
Sunday Times
Nicholls' literary talents are impressive . . . the sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending
Alex Peake-Tomkinson, Evening Standard
No one else writes novels that are both relatable and revelatory in the way he does
Graham Norton
Such a beautiful book. Captures perfectly a moment in time we've all experienced
Stylist
This is Nicholls' talent - what really sets this story apart is the dialogue: funny, telling, laughter-inducing, he's hard to beat
Grazia
Very funny and heart wrenchingly tender
Daily Express
Nicholls perfectly captures the dizzying highs and lows of first love
Daily Mail
Adrian Mole meets The Swish Of The Curtain in this lovely coming-of-age romcom about acting and the class divide
i paper
Written with great comic panache and generosity of spirit, it is Nicholls' most mature and compelling novel so far
Alex Preston, Observer
A beautiful paean to young love . . . 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
Stella
If ever there was an author perfect to take with you on holiday (so to speak), it's David Nicholls
Stella
If ever there was an author perfect to take with you on holiday (so to speak), it's David Nicholls'
Heat
A superbly written, beautifully observed account of teenage life, love, family dysfunction and friendship, which builds to a stunningly poignant ending
Sheerluxe
No other writer breaks my heart and then partially bandages it back together quite like Nicholls does. Sweet Sorrow is an absolute must-read
Scotsman
Interesting, moving, hilarious and sad at the same time
Scotsman
Interesting, moving, hilarious and sad at the same time
Irish Times
A classic coming of age novel with universal truths teased out with remarkable perception
Sun
A funny, relatable coming-of-age story
Guardian
Fizzing . . . a funny, affectionate exploration of first love
Guardian
Sweet Sorrow is a funny, affectionate exploration of first love
Daily Mirror
Piercingly observant, gloriously funny and achingly sad, this is David Nicholls' best book yet
Press Association
A delicious, pensive summer read
Spectator
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 Shakespeare's language
Spectator
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 Shakespeare's language
Daily Telegraph
Pitch perfect . . . Exquisite . . . Terrific . . . Very funny . . . Though Sweet Sorrow is certainly pulse-quickening enough to absorb readers through this summer's airport delays and rained-off beach days, it's no escapist fantasy. The tale of Charlie and Fran will linger long beyond your tan
Scotland on Sunday
Sweet Sorrow manages to be interesting, moving, hilarious and sad at the same time. I know when my heartstrings are being pulled, but tugged they assuredly were
Financial Times
A glorious escape to the sunlit uplands of the 1990s, where a teenager first finds love
Sydney Morning Herald
Funny and nostalgic tale of first love
Best Books of the Year, AU Review
Capturing nostalgia for long endless summers as well as for the strangeness that is friendships among those cast together in a play . . . a beautiful coming of age story
i News
I'm not sure there has ever been a better book to read while by the sea. The nostalgia, the humour, the deep understanding of adolescent love and indeed the sorrow. It's such a brilliant book
Robert Webb, Guardian
A witty and tender evocation of young love
George Aligiah, Guardian
A devastatingly honest exploration of first love, razor-sharp reflections on friendship - oh, and some snort out loud funny moments
Stuart Maconie, Best Books of the Year, New Statesman
David Nicholls is that rarest of literary creatures: a genuinely brilliant, genuinely popular novelist. His latest, Sweet Sorrow, is more than just poignant and warm and funny. There are piercing apercus and writing that's both precise and poetic, lyrical and tough
You Magazine
David Nicholls [is] again on top form with Sweet Sorrow . . . a gorgeous tribute to young love . . . and it's got plenty of humour too
People
Eloquent . . . dazzles with wit and shrewd self-reflection
New York Times Book Review
Delectable . . . Nicholls treats you to a satisfying glimpse into the future, where characters make a curtain call as adults . . . Bombshells abound
Washington Post
A tale of first love that hits all the right notes . . . [it] just might be the sweetest book to brighten your late summer