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David Nicholls

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Sweet Sorrow: the highly-anticipated new novel from the bestselling author of ONE DAY Hardcover – July 11, 2019

by David Nicholls (Author)

4.1 5,257 ratings

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One life-changing summer
Sixteen-year-old Charlie meets Fran...

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.

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

Print length

400 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date

July 11, 2019
Dimensions

5.98 x 1.46 x 9.17 inches
ISBN-10

1444715402
ISBN-13

978-1444715408
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From the Publisher

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton (July 11, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1444715402
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1444715408
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.43 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 1.46 x 9.17 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,249,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #36,418 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #121,006 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #235,126 in Contemporary Romance (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 5,257 ratings

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David Nicholls

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David Nicholls is the bestselling author of Starter for Ten, The Understudy, One Day, Us, Sweet Sorrow and now 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.

He is also the Executive Producer and a contributing screenwriter on a new Netflix adaptation of One Day. His latest novel, You Are Here, will be published in spring 2024.

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4.1 out of 5

5,257 global ratings

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Donna Hafner

I’m a New Fan!

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2020

This is the story of a 38 year old man looking back on his life and thinking about things in his past that have helped to shape his life. In particular, he thinks back upon one summer that he will never forget. Told from the first person point of view of Charlie, a 17 year old who is somewhat of a lost soul, this story reads like a memoir. Charlie comes from a broken home and lives with his father while his sister lives with his mother. Since the break-up, Charlie's father has a difficult time dealing with life and it seems that Charlie is left to take care of him rather than the other way around. During the summer of his seventeenth year, Charlie decides to join an acting group. This is something totally out of his realm but he is so enamored by Fran, one of the members, that he joins. From there the story's plot begins to thicken. Charlie makes some bad choices that ultimately hurt him; mostly because he can't get over own feelings of guilt. This book made me think about how choices made long ago can shape the outcome of our lives and how sometimes we just need to let things go. I really enjoyed this book and Charlie's character. His insecurities were spelled right out for the reader and it was so easy to feel the way he was feeling. I am now a David Nicholls fan!

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virginia van der vliet

a 'creative' coming-of-age novel

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2020

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Adolescence meets Shakespeare -realistic dialogue and an unusual cast of characters

5 people found this helpful

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Desre Murray

A boring, drawn-out read. Not worth the effort

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2019

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As a fan of David Nicholls' books, this one was a disappointment. Although well written, I found the story-line boring and dragged out. I really only enjoyed the last 10% of the book.

7 people found this helpful

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Aspiring Creative

Very enjoyable!

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2020

Sweet Sorrow has many strengths. Nicholls' writing is tightly crafted and nuanced. Passages range from witty moments to laugh-out-loud funny -- not always an easy feat in a novel. He also has a strong ability to use verbs much like a poet does, with a laser-beam way of capturing a particular action and/or visual that is unexpected.

Sweet Sorrow is also heralded for its nostalgic tone, especially regarding the unrepeatable feelings surrounding one's first love. I agree with this, and this nostalgia successfully avoids being saccharine -- again, not an easy feat. A range of emotions are woven successfully throughout including worry, depression, apathy, excitement, nervousness, insecurity, etc. For readers born in the general timeframe as Charlie and Fran, there's an extra layer of nostalgia with references to certain trends and music from the late 90s.

A very enjoyable read!

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2020

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Very entertaining. A little slower pace than Nicholls’ other Books.

One person found this helpful

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Lindsey D.

Nostalgic

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2020

“First love, I think it’s like a song, a stupid pop song that you hear and you think, well that is all I will ever want to listen to, it’s got everything, it’s clearly the greatest piece of music ever written, I need nothing else.”

Sweet Sorrows is a nostalgically heartwarming story about first love that brought me back twenty years to my own experience with young love. This novel was a true walk down memory lane and my nostalgic past. I was the same age as the main character around the same time that this story took place, so reading this brought me back to days of high school dances, running around with friends, without a care in the world.

What it’s about— Charlie’s life is pretty far from perfect. While most of his friends are making plans for their academic future, Charlie is already certain he failed his exams. His mom just left his dad for another man, taking his younger sister with her, while leaving Charlie at home to pick up the pieces of his dad’s shattered life. His future is looking considerably bleak, but all of that changes while Charlie is out one day trying to pass the time of lazy summer days and he stumbles upon a girl named Fran who changes the entire course of his summer.

David Nicholls’ masterful writing drew me into this novel from the first page, eliciting sympathy and compassion for Charlie’s story. As the novel continued, I found myself desperately wanting for Charlie and Fran’s relationship to last, although it’s made clear early on that it will not (not a spoiler! It’s revealed almost immediately that Charlie actually marries a woman by the name of Niamh). Sweet Sorrows is relatable and genuine, and the type of book that most readers will feel a connection with.

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2020

A coming-of-age story about first loves and the dynamic of families. Charlie Lewis is 16-years old when his parents separate. Charlie is left to worry about his depressed father. He struggles with his academics and begins stealing from his work. That summer, he meets Fran Fisher and his entire life brightens in one afternoon. He begins to see hope in his future. But to see more of her, he must join a theatre company putting on Romeo + Juliet. With no experience in acting and no reason other than to see Fran more, Charlie joins. And so begins a life-changing summer for Charlie where he learns more about himself and life in a few months than he has over the course of his lifetime.
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Riddled with teenage angst and insecurities, this novel is something that I’m sure many young readers can relate to. However, it was very long winded and I found myself struggling to pick the book up again, simply just reading it to get through it. The characters were annoying and it centers a lot around Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet which I found to be uninteresting. I did enjoy the takeaway about first loves but while I really wanted to enjoy this book, it was bland and fell a bit flat for me, missing the mark.
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I won this book in a @BookishFirst raffle. Thank you to @BookishFirst and #MarinerBooks {#partner} for gifting me with an advanced readers copy in exchange for an independent and honest review.

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Top reviews from other countries

David Jeffreys

Satisfied customer

Reviewed in Canada on May 8, 2023

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Prompt delivery. No issues.

Jonathan Whitehead

Pathos

Reviewed in Spain on March 14, 2024

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As always from David Nicholls a compelling tale.

The Helpful Shopper

Funny, moving and empathetic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2024

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David Nicholls has written a tender, realistic and very funny story about the trauma of first love.
Charlie is a typical 16 year old, leaving the school gates for the last time, blinking uncertainly in the hard light of the big world outside.
He has the odd flash of wit and is moderately good looking but Charlie is pretty ordinary in most respects - mucking about with his mates, full of bravado, messily experimenting with alchohol and dreaming about girls and sex.
He’s also, unsuccessfully, trying to navigate a very sad and chaotic home life.
Fran is from a posh school, she’s intelligent, mature, arty and lovely.
Surely out of Charlie’s league.
They meet by chance and Charlie finds himself, improbably and mortifyingly involved in an amateur production of Romeo and Juliet, in which Fran is playing Juliet.
In the course of one hot summer we experience the floating euphoria and queasy disasters of a first love affair.
A novel written by a great author , from a male perspective and set in a Home Counties type setting was always going to inspire some recognition. Although all stories of first relationships are very different and this tale is set in the late 1990’s, well after my own teenage years, some of the scenes still felt as familiar as dejavu.

Sweet Sorrow really did move me, make me laugh, make me quote lines to my partner and it prompt recommendation to friends.

Very very good.

5 people found this helpful

celil

A good read

Reviewed in Germany on October 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

Definitely worth reading. A good insight into relationships, adolescence, family life, functional and dysfunctional. Well written and hard to put down.