THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘David Nicholls is that rarest of literary creatures: a genuinely brilliant, genuinely popular novelist.’ – Stuart Maconie, in New Statesman’s Best Books of 2020
‘That most rare and coveted of literary feats: a popular novel of serious merit, a bestseller that will also endure.’ Observer
‘Triumph … the sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending.’ The Sunday Times
‘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.’ Telegraph
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
‘David Nicholls is that rarest of literary creatures: a genuinely brilliant, genuinely popular novelist.’ – Stuart Maconie, in New Statesman’s Best Books of 2020
‘That most rare and coveted of literary feats: a popular novel of serious merit, a bestseller that will also endure.’ Observer
‘Triumph … the sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending.’ The Sunday Times
‘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.’ Telegraph
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
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Reviews
A master of the bittersweet coming-of-age novel
Nicholls perfectly captures the dizzying highs and lows of first love
Affirms once again Nicholls' talent for unearthing the special in the ordinary
He's such a genius. His novels are relatable and recognisable, but also surprising, breath-taking and life-enhancing
A big-hearted book with wonderful set-pieces . . . beautifully funny and touching . . . his books always seem as fresh as they are wise and funny
Full of the joy and pain of first love, fans who fell for bestseller One Day, ten years ago, won't be disappointed
Such a beautiful book. Captures perfectly a moment in time we've all experienced
I don't think anyone writing right now captures youth and adolescence better; I'm not sure anyone even gets close
Nicholls' literary talents are impressive . . . the sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending
It's just perfect in every way
No one else writes novels that are both relatable and revelatory in the way he does
Full of wisdom, poignancy and laughs
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
A classic coming of age novel with universal truths teased out with remarkable perception
Astutely observed, and almost painfully nostalgic, Sweet Sorrow reads like a true story
Funny, engaging and moving, another triumph from the brilliant David Nicholls
This is Nicholls' talent - what really sets this story apart is the dialogue: funny, telling, laughter-inducing, he's hard to beat
Very funny and heart wrenchingly tender
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
Adrian Mole meets The Swish Of The Curtain in this lovely coming-of-age romcom about acting and the class divide
Written with great comic panache and generosity of spirit, it is Nicholls' most mature and compelling novel so far
Written with great comic panache and generosity of spirit, it is Nicholls' most mature and compelling novel so far
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
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
If ever there was an author perfect to take with you on holiday (so to speak), it's David Nicholls'
If ever there was an author perfect to take with you on holiday (so to speak), it's David Nicholls
A superbly written, beautifully observed account of teenage life, love, family dysfunction and friendship, which builds to a stunningly poignant ending
A superbly written, beautifully observed account of teenage life, love, family dysfunction and friendship, which builds to a stunningly poignant ending
Very funny and heart wrenchingly tender.
No other writer breaks my heart and then partially bandages it back together quite like Nicholls does. Sweet Sorrow is an absolute must-read
No other writer breaks my heart and then partially bandages it back together quite like Nicholls does. Sweet Sorrow is an absolute must-read
Interesting, moving, hilarious and sad at the same time
Interesting, moving, hilarious and sad at the same time
A classic coming of age novel with universal truths teased out with remarkable perception
A funny, relatable coming-of-age story
A funny, relatable coming-of-age story
Fizzing . . . a funny, affectionate exploration of first love
Sweet Sorrow is a funny, affectionate exploration of first love
Piercingly observant, gloriously funny and achingly sad, this is David Nicholls' best book yet
A delicious, pensive summer read
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
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
Once again, he has pulled off that "most rare and coveted of literary feats": a popular novel that will also endure.
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
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
A glorious escape to the sunlit uplands of the 1990s, where a teenager first finds love
Funny and nostalgic tale of first love
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'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
A witty and tender evocation of young love
A devastatingly honest exploration of first love, razor-sharp reflections on friendship - oh, and some snort out loud funny moments
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
David Nicholls [is] again on top form with Sweet Sorrow . . . a gorgeous tribute to young love . . . and it's got plenty of humour too
Eloquent . . . dazzles with wit and shrewd self-reflection
A tale of first love that hits all the right notes . . . [it] just might be the sweetest book to brighten your late summer
Delectable . . . Nicholls treats you to a satisfying glimpse into the future, where characters make a curtain call as adults . . . Bombshells abound