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David Nicholls

Private, intimate, a book was something she could pull around and over herself, like a quilt.
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At home he was merely lonely. Stepping outside transformed loneliness to solitude, a far more dignified state because it was his choice.
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For the moment she felt content, not because she’d spoken but because she’d been listened to.
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B0CM6FPKDL

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Editorial reviews

An Amazon "Top 10 Best of the Month" pick * An Oprah Daily " Best Summer Book to Read on Vacation" * An Independent Today "Best Fiction Books to Read" * A GQ Magazine (UK) "Best Book of 2024" * A Harpers Bazaar (UK) "Best Novels to Read" * A Daily Record "Best Novel" * A Good Housekeeping "Book We're Most Looking Forward To" —

"Releasing in tandem with a renewed interest in Nicholls' blockbuster One Day, which has been newly adapted for Netflix, this book is sure to fill up hold lists." — Booklist(starred review)

"If you’re still scrubbing mascara stains from your pillowcase after the finale of Netflix’s One Day adaptation, we’ve got great news: The author’s latest romance—which pairs two seemingly mismatched divorced lovebirds on a begrudging backpacking trip across northern England—is the perfect palate cleanser, delivering Nicholls’s signature cocktail of slow-burn romance and quick-witted dialogue, but without all the gut-wrenching pain. But let’s be clear: This book has heart. Marnie and Michael’s earnest fumbling at second-chance love reveals both their particular vulnerabilities and our shared potential to move, under the weight of all our baggage, toward bright new horizons." — Oprah Daily

"The genius who gave us One Day has written another classic and funny love story, set on a ten-day hike. You breeze along and get caught up in it like a leaf in the wind. Witty and joyous." — Matt Haig, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library

"What a rare find this is! Beautiful writing and authentic characters supported by a dry and honest wit. I loved it" — Bonnie Garmus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry

"A romantic, funny, hopeful story of what it is to lose and keep faith in love. The characters became my friends in an instant and I enjoyed every moment spent with them." — Dolly Alderton, New York Times bestselling author of Good Material

"Any love story by David Nicholls is a treat, but this one is especially tender, wise and joyful. I inhaled it." — Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You

"Brilliant: just perfect and exquisitely written. Every page is a delight" — Jill Mansell, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Promise Me

"A witty, touching love story. The writing is magnificent: taut and vivid. I was so happy while I was reading it and now I’m bereft. Gorgeous" — Marian Keyes, internationally bestselling author of Rachel's Holiday

"Pure and utter delight! You Are Here is a fun, poignant post-pandemic romantic comedy that takes us across the hills and moors of northern England, grapples with loss—of people, of direction—and reminds us vividly and viscerally what it feels like to fall in love." — Lily King, National Bestselling author of Euphoria

"Given the witty dialogue and sublime natural settings (think Wordsworth and Brontë), it’s not hard to imagine this as another of Nicholls’ big-screen adaptations, like One Day. A relatable and satisfyingly realistic love story to cure any lingering lockdown blues." — Kirkus Reviews

"A ridiculously satisfying book about hope and second chances" — Real Simple

"Fans of the author’s previous books will get just what they came for." — Publishers Weekly

"A stunning, funny, frank and beautiful look at loneliness, friendship, and the risks taken to love and be loved. In a career of standout books, You Are Here takes its place at the top. David Nicholls is my favorite writer." — Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of We Begin At The End

"Nicholls' best book ever, which, given he wrote Starter for Ten, Us, and One Day, is saying something." — Caitlin Moran, New York Times bestselling author of What About Men?

"A beautiful book. Nicholls perfectly judges the balance between humor and pathos. I was often on the verge of tears even when I was laughing." — Tracy Chevalier, New York Times bestselling author of A Single Thread

Oh this book! What’s better than rooting for two shy, once-burned characters to recognize that love is within reach? I stopped often to reread and savor its sparkling, wry sentences. You Are Here is both up-to-the-minute and old-fashioned in the best way: sharp, yet so very kind, funny, and bittersweet." — Elinor Lipman, bestselling author of Ms. Demeanor

"Nicholls wears his formidable intelligence so generously and so lightly that you scarcely notice the skill it takes to write a book like this: a story at once passionately funny and richly human. You Are Here is gorgeously witty and joyful, kind and sad: a book you do not want to be away from." — Katherine Rundell, Sunday Times bestselling author of Super-Infinite

"I loved this book. A story about loneliness and the beginnings of love, with the backdrop of England’s lakes and fells and relentlessly changeable weather. As a read it is warm, unsentimental, hilarious and SO acutely observed. Nicholls has given us a masterclass in writing. I want to buy it for all my friends" — Annie Macmanus, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mess We’re In

"David Nicholls is at the peak of his considerable powers – You Are Here is not only packed with the delicious observations, profound truths and moving encounters we expect of him, it’s the funniest thing he has written. Even if it was twice the length, it would have finished too soon" — Sathnam Sanghera, internationally bestselling author of Empireland

"You Are Here is a gorgeous, grown-up love story. I fell for Marnie and Michael hard and fast – this book is honest, raw, yet profoundly hopeful. This is the work of a writer at the peak of his enormous powers – it’s one of the saddest stories I’ve ever read, and one of the funniest. A future classic" — Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable

"You Are Here is David Nicholls’ funniest, warmest and most addictive novel yet. Perfect" — Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures

"David is the laureate of the modern love novel, and this is his best yet" — John Niven, author of O Brother

"You Are Here encompasses all of David Nicholls’ characteristic warmth, humor and observational insight. But it also asks fundamental questions of life, love and loneliness in such a beautifully delicate way that you don’t even realize it’s happening or that the fundamental truth of human happiness has been staring you in the face all along. I don’t know how he does it, but he does and he’s the only person who can." — Elizabeth Day, author of Friendaholic

"I spent a lot of the weekend getting angry when people wanted to interrupt my reading because I was racing to finish You Are Here....(Marnie and Michael) are two characters I will carry in my heart for a long time....Any age can read it, but if you are over forty, you will love even more this beautiful, moving & funny tale of second chances." — Georgina Moore, author of The Garnett Girls

"I devoured this book....It's a lovely, uplifting, at times, laugh out loud novel about love and finding a proper connection in the most unexpected places. Put it on your 'To Read in 2024' list." — Sophie Raworth, journalist, newsreader and broadcaster working for the BBC

"David Nicholls is a wonderfully gifted writer. His trademark wit and sensitivity bring light and life to his characters, allowing him to explore difficult subject matter with an admirable lightness of touch." — Okechukwu Nzelu, author of Here Again Now

"David Nicholls is one of the best writers at chronicling the way annoyance and resentment are often irretrievably mixed with love and empathy. This is a love story but never predictable – Nicholls stays one step ahead of the reader in the sharpest, funniest way. If you’re looking for a great comic novel, You Are Here" — Katherine Heiny, author of Games and Rituals

"I finished this novel in two breathless sittings, as invested in its outcome as I would be in the happiness of a friend. This is the magic of You Are Here: warm, generous and funny, it invites readers into the world of Marnie and Michael with the promise that everyone is welcome, and that choosing happiness and being courageous in any small way we can is always possible. I loved this book." — KA Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time

“You Are Here is everything I hope for from a David Nicholls novel: beautifully observed, very funny, a little heartbreaking, and at its core, full of hope about people and love.” — Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually

“What a beautiful, beautiful novel, sensitive, witty, and brilliantly insightful and kind about us messy, stupid humans. I loved every single step of it. I will miss it now that I'm finished and I know that it will be one of those rare novels that will dwell in my memory and my heart” — Donal Ryan, author of The Queen of Dirt Island

“A lovely book.” — Nigella Lawson, author of Cook, Eat, Repeat

“With the long-awaited TV adaptation of One Day landing in February, David Nicholls’ name is already on everyone’s lips, but his new novel is about to take book clubs, commutes and bedside tables by storm… Witty and moving at the same time, it’s a figurative and literal journey that might even have you hunting for your walking boots.” — GQ Magazine (UK)

"Nicholls's knack for warm characters, funny dialogue and superb scene-setting is as spot-on as ever. You'll want to pull on your hiking boots at the first opportunity" — Daily Mail (UK)

"A shrewd observer of modern life and love" — i Newspaper

"The Remains of the Day crossed with Michael Winterbottom's The Trip, only with more Gore-Tex,You Are Here is a triumph, a real gift of a novel, and it deserves to join One Day on the bestseller charts immediately" — Sunday Times (London)

"A great comic novel" — Observer

"Irresistible feel of a classic romance" — Mail on Sunday

Sample

Part One

Home

To what purpose, April, do you return again?

Beauty is not enough.

You can no longer quiet me with the redness

Of little leaves opening stickily.

I know what I know . . .

Edna St Vincent Millay, ‘Spring’

Imaginary Photographs

In all her youthful visions of the future, of the job she might have, the city and home she might live in, the friends and family around her, Marnie had never thought that she’d be lonely.

In her adolescence, she’d pictured the future as a series of imaginary photographs, densely populated, her friends’ arms draped around each other, eyes red from the flash of the camera in the taverna or lit by the flames of a driftwood fire on the beach and there, right in the centre, her own smiling face. The later photos were harder to pin down, the faces less defined, but perhaps there’d be a partner, even children among the friends she would surely know and love all her life.

But she hadn’t taken a photograph of another person for six years. The last time she’d had her picture taken was at Passport Control, where she’d been instructed not to smile. Where had everyone gone? Now thirty-eight, she had grown up in the golden age of friendship, when having a supportive, loving community around you was a far greater priority than the vexed business of family, the strained performance of romance or the sulky obligations of work. The late-night phone-calls, the texts, the outings and board games, it had all been so much more exciting and fulfilling than her erratic love life, and hadn’t she once been good at it? A nice addition to the group if not the core, well liked if never adored or idolised. She was not one of those girls who hired a nightclub for her birthday but she’d easily filled a room above a pub for her twenty-first, a long table in an Italian restaurant for her thirtieth. For her fortieth she thought she might go for a walk in the park with a friend or two, a once popular band obliged to play ever smaller venues.

Year by year, friends were lost to marriage and parenthood with partners she didn’t care for or who didn’t care for her, retreating to new, spacious, ordered lives in Hastings or Stevenage, Cardiff or York while she fought on in London. Others were lost to apathy or carelessness, friendship like a thank-you letter she kept meaning to write until too much time had passed and it became an embarrassment. And perhaps it was natural, this falling away. Real life was rarely a driftwood fire or a drunken game of Twister, and it was part of growing up to let go of those fantasies of perpetual skinny-dipping and deep talks.

But nobody took the lost friends’ places, and now she had revised her vision of the future to one of self-containment and independence, tea from a nice cup, word puzzles on her phone, control of the TV, her books, her bed. To eat, drink, read and ignore the clock, to live without the intrusion or judgement of another soul; the fantasy of being the last woman on earth. She couldn’t say whether a falling tree in a forest made a noise, but no vibration that she made would strike another eardrum and so she’d taken to speaking to objects. Not you again, she joked with the damp patch in the bathroom. Nice and fresh, she complimented the eggs. There you are, she bantered with the corkscrew, waving its arms in the air. In a film on TV, Marnie watched a solitary character give a long pep-talk to her reflection. Nobody does that, she told the TV.

But solitary conversation was like playing yourself at Scrabble, it was hard to be surprised or challenged. Sometimes she didn’t even bother with words, instead developing a vocabulary of small noises, fwa and petah, flu-ah and cha-ha, their meaning ever shifting. The radio helped, her days marked by the schedules, though the news was increasingly an hourly jolt of pure anxiety or rage that left her scrambling for the switch. She played music, listening to playlists called things like Coffeeshop Essentials or Rainy Day Piano, but no one had yet compiled a playlist for those sluggish Sunday afternoons in her one-bedroom flat, listlessly foraging on social media, incontinently liking posts, present but as anonymous as someone clapping in a stadium crowd. Time is a sensation that alters depending on where you are, and the cursed hours between three and five on a February afternoon lasted forever, as did the same hours in the morning, times when she had nothing to contemplate but the same circling anxieties and regrets, times when she was forced to acknowledge the truth.

I, Marnie Walsh, aged thirty-eight, of Herne Hill, London, am lonely.

This was not seclusion or solitude or aloneness, this was the real thing, and the realisation came with shame, because if popularity was the reward for being smart, cool, attractive, successful, then what did loneliness signify? She had never been cool, but she wasn’t clueless either. People had told her she was funny, and while she recognised that this could be a trap, she was never intentionally sarcastic or spiteful and far more likely to mock herself than others. Perhaps that was the problem – her ex-husband had certainly put it high on the list – but she was kind too, thoughtful, always generous within her means. She wasn’t shy. If anything she tried too hard, a people-pleaser, though no one ever seemed that pleased.

There is who we want to be, she thought, and there is who we are. As we get older the former gives way to the latter, and maybe this is who I am now, someone better off by themselves. Not happier, but better off. Not an introvert, just an extrovert who had lost the knack.

But it was not romantic loneliness, or only occasionally. She had married and divorced in her late twenties, in that alone a prodigy, and this great central calamity of her life had gone some way to cauterising those emotions, even if the scar still itched now and then. Since the divorce there’d been no one, not really, though she thought about it sometimes, that it would be nice to feel the warmth of another body in bed or to get a text that was not an authentication code or scam. It would be nice to be desired but let’s not get carried away. The risks involved in romantic love, the potential for hurt and betrayal and indignity, far outweighed the consolations. For the most part, she just missed other people, specifically and generally, and if the prospect of social contact sometimes felt daunting, exhausting, intimidating, then it was still preferable to this small and shrinking life inside her fifty-four square metres on the top floor.

Sometimes, she thought, it’s easier to remain lonely than present the lonely person to the world, but she knew that this, too, was a trap, that unless she did something, the state might become permanent, like a stain soaking into wood. It was no good. She would have to go outside.

David Nicholls

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.

Reviews

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

4,887 global ratings

Penelope Y. Andrade

fabulous, romantic, charming page turner,

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2024

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Wish I could begin this book again for the first time. It’s just wonderful. The dialogue is witty and real, the characters appealing, the scenery described so bountifully…one could almost feel the landscape breathing (and misting, and withering, and sky bluing)…would be a real boon for geologists too with all the enthusiasm for stone and rocks and earth’s shifting structures. I love this book

4 people found this helpful

David Dekker

What a great story.

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2024

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This is one of the best novels I've read this year. Two people, man and woman, meet accidentally on a trek across northern England. Their relationship takes many turns over the 15 day journey. The end is not what you think. Read it, your won't regret it.

Gabi Coatsworth

A walk with Love

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2024

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What a wonderful book. Beautifully written, with characters groping their way to love as they walk across the North of England from coast to coast. The walk sounds pretty bad (it’s not for me!) but it allows for time for the characters to get to know each other as they battle its adversities. The pacing is perfect - it was one of those books where I tried to slow down toward the end because I didn’t want it to end…

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