I have to admit getting rather excited when I heard that BridLit director Tanya Bruce-Lockhart had secured a visit from bestselling author David Nicholls.
He’s such a readable author, telling a rattling good story with flair and humour.
His last novel, the Booker-longlisted Us, had mixed reviews but I loved its poignant tone and thoughtful pace. I found myself dwelling on the plot and characters for some weeks after I’d finished the book.
Sweet Sorrow, Nicholls’ fifth novel, is a return to his One Day style, according to the Guardian, which awarded it Book of the Day: ‘He has always been a comic novelist and Sweet Sorrow is full of passages of laugh-out-loud Inbetweeners-ish humour.’
Reviewer Alex Preston describes it as ‘a beautiful paean to young love and teenage lust, the whole thing prevented from falling into schmaltz by the air of melancholy that hangs around it, the recognition that such loves do not last, that all about is “the sound of summer packing its bags and preparing to leave town”.’
Holly Williams, from The Independent, urges people to ‘bag a copy immediately, because this has got ‘perfect summer read’ smeared all over it like so much factor 30’.
‘But crucially, Nicholls doesn’t just do the good bits. Being 16 was crap, for most people, most of the time. Nicholls writes all the rubbish stuff too – and this doesn’t diminish the nostalgia, but rather makes the book feel more truthful and mature.’
Nicholls is a graduate of Bristol University and went on to train as an actor at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York..
Nicholls, who hails from Eastleigh, Hampshire, juggles his novel writing career with that of a screenwriter. Sky Atlantic’s Patrick Melrose won the BAFTA this year for the best mini-series as well as the best actor award for its star, Benedict Cumberbatch.
Nicholls also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptations of his books, Starter For Ten and One Day, as well as Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles for the BBC and the BBC Films version of Far From The Madding Crowd, starring Carey Mulligan and filmed at Mapperton House.
Tickets will sell quickly for this event – it’s one not to be missed.
David Nicholls is at Bridport Electric Palace on Saturday 9 November at 5pm
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