Synopsis

"In the chaos of our family's self-destruction he had quietly and unassumingly made himself present and though I could hardly recall a conversation that might be considered personal or honest, in the strange, mute semaphore of teenage boys he'd communicated a sense of care and somehow passed on the message to the others, an unspoken command to be, if not kind , then not actively cruel."

Sweet Sorrow is the fifth novel by British author, David Nicholls.

It was mid-1997, school was done, and sixteen-year-old Charlie Lewis was resigned to an unpromising future, waiting for the rest of his life to begin. Meanwhile, there was a long summer to endure, living with his father, Brian, the currently unemployed former owner of a chain of failed record shops. By default, as the older child, Charlie was left to look after his father when his mother left to live with her lover, taking along his sister.

"I knew from science fiction, rather than from Science lessons, that time behaves differently depending on your location, and from a sixteen-year-old's lower bunk at the end of June in 1997, it moved more slowly than anywhere else in the cosmos."

Brian Lewis was now often a sad, Mad Dad (chronically, clinically depressed), and sixteen-year-old Charlie was frightened, furious and resentful of the father he'd formerly connected so well with: he went out on his bike as often as possible.

"Boredom was our natural state but loneliness was taboo and so I strained for the air of a loner, a maverick, unknowable and self-contained, riding with no hands. But a great effort is required not to appear lonely when you are alone, happy when you're not."

On one of these rides, Charlie found himself quite unintentionally rehearsing Romeo and Juliet with Full Fathom Five Theatre Cooperative on a hint of a possibility of a promise from the lovely Fran Fisher, playing Juliet. It was something he kept meticulously separate from his school mates, whose ridicule could not be borne . . .

Details

• Format : Standard 2nd Hand Hardback
• Condition : Good
• Category : Fiction - Love & Romance
• Published : 2019 (Hodder & Stoughton - 1st Edition)
• ISBN : 9781444715408
• SKU : B001924
• PPC : SP550gm
• RRP : £20 (Unclipped)
• Quantity Available : 1 only.

External Reviews

'A superbly written, beautifully observed account of teenage life, love, family dysfunction and friendship, which builds to a stunningly poignant ending.' - Heat.

'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.

'Such a beautiful book. Captures perfectly a moment in time we've all experienced.' - Graham Norton.

The Author

David Alan Nicholls (born 30 November 1966) is an English novelist and screenwriter.

Featured Author . . . David Nicholls