After the phenomenal success of One Day it must have been tough for the author to write this. Little will live up to that masterpiece but give the man some slack and sit back and enjoy this. It is not as irresistible as One Day but it’s still a lovely read. Darker than his previous novel it tells of a struggling marriage and an awkward relationship between father and son. To help solve both problems our protagonist, Douglas, takes them on a ‘grand tour’ of Europe. Reading a bit like a pacy travelogue with much human reflection on life, it’s a sad tale spotted with humour and clever descriptions of the period in which we live. I like his writing very much. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
One of our Books of the Year 2014.
Winner of the UK Author of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards 2014.
David Nicholls brings the wit and intelligence that graced his international bestseller One Day to a compellingly human, deftly humorous new novel about what holds marriages and families together-and what happens when everything threatens to fall apart.Douglas Petersen may be mild mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humour that, against all odds, seduces beautiful Connie into a second date . . . and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades after their relationship first blossomed in London, they live more or less happily in the suburbs with their moody seventeen-year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells Douglas she thinks she wants a divorce.The timing couldn't be worse. Hoping to encourage her son's artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world's greatest works of art as a family, and she can't bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and may even help him to bond with Albie.Narrated from Douglas's endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves and learning how to get closer to a son who's always felt like a stranger. Us is a moving meditation on the demands of marriage and parenthood as well as the intricate relationship between the heart and the head. In David Nicholls's gifted hands, Douglas's odyssey brings Europe-from the streets of Amsterdam to the famed museums of Paris, from the cafes of Venice to the beaches of Barcelona-to vivid life just as he experiences a powerful awakening of his own. Will this summer be his last as a husband, or the moment when he turns his marriage, and maybe even his whole life, around?
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