Sweet Sorrow

By: David Nicholls

Narrated by: Rory Kinnear

One life-changing summer, Charlie meets Fran...David Nicholls’s highly anticipated new novel, narrated by Rory Kinnear.

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.

©2019 David Nicholls (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Nicholls is fabulous on first love and Kinnear’s narration strikes the perfect balance between teenage defiance and vulnerability." (Daily Mail)

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

"He's such a genius. His novels are relatable and recognizable, but also surprising, breath-taking and life-enhancing." (Nina Stibbe)

Excellent narration made it even better!

I loved the story, but it was the skillful narration that made this book extra special. Without the nuance that the narrator brought for each character, some of it would have been lost on me (English is not my first language). Six stars.

Loved it!

Brilliant, moving, believable story. Nicely narrated. Wonderfully understated in the finest English way. A great listen. Heading for his other works!

Not up to expectations...

I thoroughly enjoyed both One Day and Us by Nicholls. Not so this outing however. Could not get fully engaged with the characters especially the protagonist, Charlie Lewis who's an out-and-out winger and whiner. The girlfriend, Fran held some initial promise but for her inexplicable continued attraction to Charlie.

That said, Nicholls' writing shone in a few set pieces.

Bottom line: but for the truly exceptional reading performance by Rory Kinnear, I likely would have given up on the book a third of the way through...