- Marnie is a freelance copy editor. She's thirty-eight and divorced. Michael is a geography teacher. He's forty-two and separated. There aren't many readers or viewers of David Nicholls' stories of love and its rocky road that aren't utterly sucked in. He's an immensely gifted writer and I've long been a fan. His prose sparkles with verve and wit, and his stories, although quotidian, are full of profound insight into what basic humanity really is.
- A hundred pages into this novel I wondered - is this a bit predictable? Typically Nicholls? Two lonelies who find each other? But as I read on I became entranced. The main ingredient in the mix is Nicholls' frequent sentences that burst off the page with comic brilliance.
- The chapters are short, and the voices alternate - Marnie's and Michael's. A friend has organised a walk across one side of England to the other. It will take eight days. They pass through very English towns like Borrowdale, Grasmere, Glenridding, Stonethwaite and Patterdale, climb steep hills, suffer constant rain and drizzle. But they talk and talk and Marnie in particular is as delightful and cheeky a companion as you could get, although she 'hates walking'! These conversations are the substance of the book.
- They are both child-free and victims of failed marriages. They tell each other their stories and they are immensely sad. Nicholls details the emotional drainage they suffered and are still recovering from.
- I obviously cannot comment on the ending, other than to say Nicholls does not indulge in any cliches. You'll just mutter 'what a magnificent achievement'.
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