Name: Meg Ferguson's review of Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls
Item: Sweet Sorrow
Rating: 3
Author: Meg Ferguson

David Nicholls

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Triumph ... the sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending.' The Sunday Times 'That most rare and coveted of literary feats: a popular novel of serious merit, a bestseller that will also endure.' Observer 'Written with great comic panache and generosity of spirit, it is Nicholls' most mature and compelling novel so far.' i-paper One life-changing summer Charlie meets Fran... In 1997, Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you don't remember in the school photograph. His exams have not gone well. At home he is looking after his 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. Then Fran Fisher bursts into his life and despite himself, Charlie begins to hope. But if Charlie wants to be with Fran, he 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. 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. '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 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

Sweet Sorrow

Meg Ferguson

One life-changing summer Sixteen-year-old Charlie meets Fran... 8 million copies since STARTER FOR TEN first introduced us to his incomparable talent for making us laugh, cry and wince with recognition in the space of a single sentence; ten years after ONE DAY became the iconic love story for a generation; five years since the journey of US took him to the Man Booker Prize long-list; DAVID NICHOLLS has written a major new novel, SWEET SORROW: a hymn to the tragicomedy of ordinary lives, a celebration of the reviving power of friendship and that brief, blinding explosion of first love that perhaps can only be looked at directly once it has burned out. 'Nicholls writes with such tender precision about love' The Times 'There is a sharp empathetic intelligence to his writing that makes his characters real . . . the clear writing often dazzles with truth . . . sad funny, soulful' Observer 'A sublime talent for illuminating the murky causeway that most of us have to navigate between darkness and light' Donal Ryan 'Nicholls' ability to create and then subvert the traditional plot for comedy is the secret of his success. It makes us confront the gap between what we expect from storytelling and what happens in real life' Spectator

Nicholls pulls off a charmer of a Wonder Years story without spilling over into sentimentality. 

Andrew

Kate

Bittersweet. 
I hate this book – IT'S SO GOOD 😭😭😭😭

4.5 stars ⭐️

Cathaysa Ryökäs

The majority of the books I read are from a female perspective, and it was really refreshing to get a change to that, especially when I feel that this book gave a pretty realistic picture of a teenage boy mindset. The whole thing with the play gave a little contrast to his everyday life and history, and there were many of the head characters thoughts I feel many young people, male and female, might be able to relate to. 

This was not my favorite book, but definitely had a good time reading it!

Maria Davis 

LOVED. I so far haven’t found a single book by David Nichols that I haven’t enjoyed and this was no exception . I can’t understand  how he manages to take any characters under any circumstances and make them seem so relatable and real. A wonderful book about first love and nostalgia, that is true to its name the full way through. 

Joanna Rosenwink 

We join Charlie during the summer of 1997 as he completes his GCSEs (the same year I completed mine so the nostalgia was palpable). The sweetness of falling in love for the first time is juxtaposed with the complexity of his relationship with a troubled father. Mental health issues are sensitivity dealt with in this bitter sweet coming of age novel. A lovely summer read with great depth, Nicholls does what he does best, exploring relationships between believable and very human characters.

In 1997, Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you don't remember in the school photograph. His exams have not gone well. At home he is looking after his 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. Then Fran Fisher bursts into his life and despite himself, Charlie begins to hope. But if Charlie wants to be with Fran, he 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.

Catalina Petre

Lovely story. Sweet and funny. Amazing writing.

Helen Bright

Mackenzie Mossop

Rebecca Grandison 

Mark

Alistair James

Tegan Bell

Liam Byrne 

noah!

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. Now: On the verge of marriage and a fresh start, thirty-eight year old Charlie Lewis finds that he can't stop thinking about the past, and the events of one particular summer. Then: Sixteen-year-old Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you don't remember in the school photograph. He's 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 can't 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.

Meg Ferguson &
Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls

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Meg Ferguson &Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls

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Meg Ferguson &
Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls