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Sweet Sorrow

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About this listen

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 Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Romance Feel-Good Tear-jerking Heartfelt Witty

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)
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I couldn't stop listening to this and devoured it in a few days. It is funny, sweet, sad and feels like a real story without contrivances of plot getting in the way. I really liked it.

Engrossing and real

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So beautifully put together, I found it very difficult to stop listening. Very funny and moving too. I feel like I could start from the beginning and enjoy it again. The narration is also fantastic and I'm really pleased I listened on audible for this reason.

nostalgic and so well written

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Just wonderful. One of my favourite writers. Look forward to the next one - hope it's soon!

Another Perfect Novel

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loved it if you're a romantic like me, this is for you. and no mention of Brexit

a modern Romeo and Juliet.

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Nice story, nothing that’s going to see the world on fire but an enjoyable listen. I feel that the wrong narrator was selected for it though. Good pace and clear to hear, but a bit too deep voiced I think, which jarred a bit

Gentle

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