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Sweet Sorrow

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Sweet Sorrow

By: David Nicholls
Narrated by: Rory Kinnear
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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

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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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This is right up there with One Day for me. It covers many similar tropes of young love, what could have beens and laugh out loud moments. If you are a fan of David Nicholls’ other books you will love this too.

Absolutely loved it

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I absolutely loved this book. such a sweet story. the narrator was excellent. highly recommended

I absolutely loved it.

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Very enjoyable read, different from my normal choice, so glad I chose it

Super narrator

Poignant

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Interesting book. Enjoyed revisiting youth and first love. well read. very realistic voices. one to definately listen to.

enjoyed this book.

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Really enjoyed this book. definitely one I would recommend. I felt for his character all the way and was delighted how she constantly minded him when there was plenty of opportunity for a standard lashing.

Good Fun.

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Takes you back to the 90’s. Very funny, really enjoyed listening to this book.

Nostalgic and funny!

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An excellent story. I became very caught up in Charles’ fate and had to keep listening.
The narrator did a first class job

Very involving

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Sweet Sorrow hit the ground running for me. At the time I was finishing my GCSEs and 'moving on' I had that exact looming situation. I had recently fallen out with my friends, I had been going through a tough period for a while and this felt like a turning point of some degree, but I didn't really know where. The emotions that Charlie feels were painfully relatable to me and I felt instantly on his side. It hit the ground running, but having finished the book, I still don't really know where it was running to.

I'm gonna give a minor spoiler warning here: I'm not gonna be talking about the events of the book, but rather how they're structured in the later half of the book, which may change some people's viewing experience, so I recommend skipping this (next) paragraph if you're unsure.

The book felt perfectly set up for a collapse of the world around a character. It felt like everything was going to come toppling down and the characters were going to have to chose who and what to side with - what was most important to them. But rather than a massive avalanche spawning a moral conclusion, it's a few small avalanches, happening days apart that give the characters time to adapt rather than make raw, truer decisions. As a result, the morality and conclusion of the story is a slow, anti-climactic burn that left me wanting more in the most unwanted way. The way it actually unfolds is more realistic, and may be better for certain audiences but it left me unsatisfied.

Overall, the book is a good read, but it's so close of being a great one that I can't help but feel annoyed at it.

I didn't mention the acting much but it was great. I thought I would hate the actor's voice at first, but as the book progressed, I realised that his voice is a perfect match for the story and makes the story much better than it could've been.

Great acting and worthwhile story

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I very slowly warmed to this book and then I was totally immersed and impressed. It’s about first love, filial love, friendship and the angst of being 16 . Wonderful narrator . Set against a backdrop of one beautiful summer with an amateur dramatic production of Romeo and Juliet.

Multi layered love story

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Although I was not a teenager in the 90s, so much of this rings true for teenagers in any era. It made me smile a lot listening to it. A really enjoyable listen.

Reminiscing

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