‘A new love story by beloved bestseller David Nicholls, You Are Here is a novel of first encounters, second chances and finding the way home.‘
[ About You Are Here ]
Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way
Marnie is stuck.
Stuck working alone in her London flat, stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that often feels like it’s passing her by.
Michael is coming undone.
Reeling from his wife’s departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells.
When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship.
But can they survive the journey?
[ My Review ]
You Are Here by David Nicholls published April 23rd with Sceptre and is the highly anticipated novel from a writer whose work has shattered many a heart. I think it’s fair to say that the recent Netflix adaptation of One Day reminded us all of why we love the stories that David Nicholls can tell. The reader is completely captivated by his wonderfully real characters and in You Are Here the same holds true.
Marnie and Michael play centre stage in this gorgeous story about two very ordinary people who cross paths through an organised encounter by a communal friend. Michael and Marnie, for different reasons, are a little lost and lonely. Their lives have certainly not transpired as planned with both beginning to question their decisions and how they managed to find themselves in this situation.
Michael is a geography teacher with a genuine love for nature and the outdoors. He brings his students on excursions and when alone, he goes on solo treks in all weathers. Michael’s marriage has recently collapsed and he is struggling to interact and be part of anything again. His trips across mountains and valleys allow him time to breath but he is limited in his interactions with others, causing some worry for his family and friends.
Marnie is a proofreader and copy-editor, working as a freelancer from her London flat. The isolation of it all is beginning to impact her as she sees friends moving on with their lives while hers has very much stagnated. She has no-one to come home to, no-one to cook for, no-one to give her a hug on her bad days. Initially this idea suited her, but now as the years pass by the solitude is affecting her.
Michael and Marnie have a friend in common, Cleo. Cleo sees it as her mission to get them both out of their shells and suggests a trip, an adventure. Michael could oversee the route and Cleo, with Marnie and a few others, would follow the plan. In theory it had its appeal and both Marnie and Michael are persuaded by Cleo to just get stuck in.
David Nicholls takes us on a journey across the Lakes, the Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors as Michael and Marnie find themselves the last two standing as the rain comes down in buckets. With any sense of decorum stripped away, they start to reveal snippets of themselves, slowly exposing their hearts to new possibilities.
Told with warmth and wit, alongside David Nicholls’ trademark sparkling prose, You Are Here is a sincere and astute tale that completely immerses the reader into the lives of Marnie and Michael. They are such authentic and natural characters with personalities and traits that resonate with so many of us. In many ways You Are Here is a very simple tale yet it deals with the complexities of relationships and the everyday battles we all experience in our lives. I never thought that a novel, complete with bad weather and Gore-Tex, would make for such a beautiful read but David Nicholls’ pure genius has taken the ordinary and made it extraordinary. You Are Here is a generous and loving tale, a heart-warming and funny novel that will appeal to all who are in search of an uplifting and beautifully romantic story.
* Thank you to Hachette Ireland for my copy of You Are Here in exchange for my honest review
[ Bio ]
David Nicholls is the bestselling author of Starter for Ten, The Understudy, One Day, Us, Sweet Sorrow and You Are Here. One Day was published in 2009 to extraordinary critical acclaim: translated into 40 languages, it became a global bestseller, selling millions of copies worldwide. His fourth novel, Us, was longlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.
On screen, David has written adaptations of Far from the Madding Crowd, When Did You Last See Your Father? and Great Expectations, as well as of his own novels, Starter for Ten, One Day and Us. His adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, was nominated for an Emmy and won him a BAFTA for best writer.
The Netflix adaptation of One Day was executive-produced by David.
Very much looking forward to this one!
Susan it’s lack of anything fancy/techy/fashionable is a real treat. A really lovely book