Member Reviews
This story is absolutely delightful; equally heart-rending and laugh-out-loud funny. The dialogues are so true to life and the couple are so vulnerable, so lonely but so endearing. The conversations between Michael and his students are exactly what I'd imagine taking place between a well-liked teacher and some cheeky teenagers. I honestly can't praise this book enough and if I started quoting some of my favourite exchanges this review would just go on and on...
Gorgeous, relatable, moving. This book has everything and more, I adored Marnie and Michael and liked the lyrical nature of the chapters. This is the first David Nicholls book I’ve read and I absolutely love it. Five stars.
Huge thanks to the author and publisher, for the chance to read You Are Here, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
David Nicholls is just amazing. This is another wonderful love story which kept me turning the pages from start to finish with great characters and storyline along with some very humorous moments. A delight to read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.
Marnie and Michael have a friend in common, Cleo. They are also single, Marnie is divorced and Michael separated. They also live very simple lives, almost as hermits.
Cleo asks Michael to arrange a ramble through Cumbria and invites 3 single people to join them. One drops out before the trip. Michael reluctantly agrees to arrange the trip but has also decided he’s going from coast to coast and intending the other walkers to just accompany him for a weekend.
It’s a beautiful story, easy read. I did wish it had another chapter or two at the end though!
You Are Here is just wonderful. The characters Michael and Marnie are so relatable and well written, I feel as if I was walking across the country alongside them. There are laugh out loud funny moments as well as moments of sadness and hope.
I would 100% recommend this book.
I have to say from the off that David Nicholls has done it again – ‘You Are Here’ is WONDERFUL.
The chapters are told alternately from Marnie and Michael’s points of view – with the timelines sometimes overlapping slightly so that you get each of their perspectives on the same situation. I really liked both main characters from the start in different ways, and felt like we got to know them well and understand their back stories and how they are the 40 something people they are now over the timeline of the book.
I have to say that the geography of the trip and the coast to coast walk is also described beautifully – and Michael’s geeky geographical knowledge was very well received by me (even if not always by Marnie!)
It is a beautiful, gentle love story – where you’re rooting for the characters throughout. It twists and turns – much like the walk itself – as the tale unfolds, and is not straightforward at all (although the shocks aren’t quite as gobsmacking as in One Day!) but at the same time it feels really ‘real’.
The ‘banter’ between Michael and Marnie feels very genuine – as do their interactions with other characters in the book. It is funny, moving, sad, joyful – all rolled up into one fabulous book.
I loved the ending – and would love it not to be the end, but to be the beginning of a sequel.
A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy – it’s out on 23 April 2024 so not long to wait if you like the sound of it.
After reading One Day I was really excited to read his latest book. Unfortunately it was too slow for me, and I never really got into it. I had to keep backtracking to get into the storyline again. I loved the concept, and such a brilliant and well described setting, it was just not the book for me.
What a beautiful yet raw story this is that is to blame for my messed up sleep pattern. Having watched the One Day series on Netflix, I was keen to read Nicholls' writing for myself and the setting of the lake district really appealed, as an outdoorsy person it's somewhere I love.
Firstly, Nicholls' writing style is descriptive and eloquent without being pretentious. His description of the terrain and environment made me able to smell and hear the lake district, immersed in it to the point I felt the sensation of rain soaked walking gear.
Secondly, the dialogue and interaction between Marnie and Michael is a slow burn yet keeps you entertained. The conversation and banter feels real. The boring little observations of the weather, things we talk about every day when building relationships. Their chemistry feels real, without being overly romanticised and leaves the story open as to where it will lead.
The theme of loneliness is explored throughout. Not just the negative aspects but the wallowing comfort of solitude and how hard it is to break the habit of isolation if you're not where life expects you to be by your 30s. It made me reflect on my own life and friendships.
Finally, as a 30-something woman often described as quirky, I related to Marnie so hard. I am an actor and Marnie would be my dream role to play.
The book has left me with a profound feeling. I can't put my finger on the exact emotion and don't want to say, in case it gives anything away, but only the best novels linger in your consciousness for days and weeks after and this is one of them.
I hope to read more from Nicholls.
On a brilliantly-written and hopeful love story that is unlike anything you would have read. I said that because whilst it has everything about love and the characters finding their own ways home, there’s nothing about romantic proposals or weddings. It’s witty and funny, but it’s not a good romantic comedy, and it’s just what you’d expect from the author of ‘One Day’ and more.
I understand that the book is inspired by David Nicholls’ own walk from the west coast to east coast of England several years prior, and the story is basically framed around that. You can almost say that it’s a tribute to the lovely British landscapes and countrysides. The story itself is about the two characters who have their own personal life situations (Marnie with her loneliness and Michael who’s trying to survive the break-up of his own marriage) are encouraged by a mutual friend, who is determined to bring them together, to do a walking holiday. Marnie and Michael, aged 38 and 42 respectively, then embark on their most epic walk. Through the walk, they find not only each other and build on a friendship that would mean more, but also themselves.
I enjoyed reading about the walk and places I’ve never been, but I also enjoyed reading about the sincerity of the thoughts of the characters.
“She knew perfectly well how to read a map but it was fun to see his enthusiasm, and she found herself stealing little glances as he talked about contour lines, the difference between footpath and bridleway, and how to estimate time with the joint of a thumb. It was all fantastically boring, of course, or rather the subject was boring but the speaker was not.”
A truly British fiction at its best.
Out in the UK on 23 April. Go buy it.
Marnie and Michael meet on a walking holiday organised by a mutual friend who is trying to set them both up with other people. The walk sees them hike from the east to west coast of England, including The Lakes and some of North Yorkshire.
Marnie is my new favourite character, ever, I think! She's hilarious, relatable and very real. Some characters in fiction are not 100% believable, if that makes sense? But Marnie is the sort of person you would end up chatting to if you bumped into her somewhere - I love her.
The banter between Marnie and Michael is very well written - David Nicholls always does dialogue so well - and I found myself laughing out loud a lot, something tht happens rarely when I read. The trauma they have both experienced during previous relationships has made them both vulnerable and wary, but the spark between them forms the crux of the story, with the "will they, won't they" question hanging in the air throughout.
I also loved the setting. Having spent a lot of time in The Lakes many of the areas were familiar to me, particularly Honnister Pass, where we always go to when in the area. It is breathtaking, particularly on a sunny day. In addtion, my grandparents lived in Reeth until they passed, so hearing about Swaledale again conjured up a lot of memories.
For me, this was faultless. My only criticism was that it ended and now I'm sat here on a windy Saturday morning missing both of them!
I read this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, so many thanks to
I have read all David Nicholls' books and probably gave them all 5 stars. It's hard to imagine anyone who enjoyed the other books by him not liking this one. It's a fairly typical plot line for Nicholls: two single, middle-aged people who have experienced unhappy relationships and are plodding through life, meet one another by chance. Similar to One Day the two protagonists do not realise they are in love, but the reader does. Set mainly on the Coast to Coast Walk the pair are initially indifferent to one another, but shared experiences bring them closer and they keep walking side by side. Various disagreements postpone their union and (non-loving) relationships interpose themselves, but it has a great ending!
It's been a while since I last read his last book and have since watched adaptations of his novels. His dialogue is brilliant and readily transposes to TV or film, but what you get in the book is the language and the humour. Nearly every page makes you smile, with some great similies and fantastic minor characters. I am sure this story will be filmed one day, but to truly experience it you have to read the book.
Really good book :)) loved the story . Couldn’t put it down . Cosy read .
I loved one day and was apprehensive when I started this but it didn’t disappoint.
Really wonderful read. Nicholls absolutely inhabits a very varied selection of characters totally convincingly. Highly recommended.
David Nicholls does it again! It was sweet, moving and not cliched! As someone who loves walking I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of ploughing through terrible weather!
I liked this book which puts opposites Marnie and Michael together and love the walking aspect of the novel. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.
Well... where to start? As a dedicated David Nicholls fan, I was delighted to be given access to 'You Are Here' on NetGalley so thank you for this - and, of course, to the publisher.
Here we have Michael and Marnie - two single people, both divorced, who find themselves together on a walking the Coast-to-Coast path from Carlisle to Robin Hood's Bay. This has been organised by Michael's teaching colleague, Cleo, who is also Marnie's friend, who, along with her son, Anthony, and friend, Conrad, sets out with the others on a walk. It is only Michael, a geography teacher who struggles being on his own but also seems to incongruously love it, who intends to walk the complete 190 miles.
Much of the novel is focused on Michael and Marnie after the others pull out - mainly due to horrific weather, something that many people who enjoy British walking have probably experienced. The duo talk; they find out about each other's lives. There is clearly something between them but certain barriers (Michael meeting up with ex-wife Natasha, for example) get in the way of anything more.
This novel is superb in so many ways. It is funny. It is sad. Ultimately, it is bitter-sweet and Nicholls has such a grasp on human behaviour and how social situations can be so awful for some - not that such things are verbalised but how they are 'felt'. One brilliant example is near the end when they meet up in Hyde Park. The novel ends with Michael and Marnie meeting up in London, where Marnie lives, as Michael has arranged a field trip there from York. There is the whole 'will they, won't they?' scenario - one hopes they will, and should, but nothing is 100% concrete as to whether this will happen or not. I hope so - for both of their sakes - but it might not be the right time for either of them.
I can definitely see 'You Are Here' coming to a cinema or TV screen in the future, very much like 'One Day', on Netflix, and the superb 'Starter for Ten' on the stage. It's left me wanting more, loving Michael and Marnie, but also realising how skilled Nicholls is at knowing what makes humans tick. And - I now really want to walk the Coast-to-Coast path, although I would prefer finer weather!
Thank you, again, to NetGalley and the publisher.
Another book by David Nicholls who has perfected the art of believable and witty conversations. The characters are well rounded and you grow to really care about them. Also, the setting is beautifully described that it almost makes you want to embark on the Coast to Coast walk.
Highly recommend everyone to read this funny and hopeful novel and it is already one of my favourite books of the year.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc in exchange for a review.
As predicted, I loved this new love story from David Nicholls. Romantic, funny and wise. I didn't want to put it down and I didn't want it to finish.
When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship...
Thanks for the ARC!
I started this book two days after visiting an outdoor clothing retailer to get measured for walking boots and immediately sent several pargaraphs to a group of friends I enjoyed a sometimes sunny, often wet and muddy six day walk with last year. I had to restrain myself from sending them half the book, it was very VERY on the nose on the joys of a long, wet, multi-day walk!
Michael walks to be alone. to forget, to occupy his time, so the last thing he wants is company when he attempts the Coast to Coast. Marnie barely leaves the comfort of her small London flat so the last thing she wants to do is head up to the Lake District especially to walk. But their mutual friend Cleo didn't get to be a Deputy Head by taking no for an answer and so here they are, strangers in waterproofs along with Cleo, Cleo's almost teen son who would clearly rather be anywhere else. Cleo's husband and the outdoorsy female friend she lined up for Michael have bailed, the friend of her husband she has in mind for Marnie has turned up, but jeans and trainers aren't going to get anyone very far on a serious walk... Michael knows he just has to endure their company for a couple of days, then he can return to his solitude, but everyone gives up much quicker than expected, everyone but Marnie who, despite blisters, wet underwear and her taciturn companion, keeps putting one foot after the other.
This is a funny, tender, poignant novel, so beautifully written I was filled half with envy, half with admiration. Marnie and Michaels evolution from strangers to companions to friends to friends with possibilities was beautifully done and pitch perfect at every step. A gorgeous hug of a book. Highly recommended.
Oh My Days this book was all the feels. Bit of a rollercoaster. In it, we meet two people whose lives are stuck in ruts. Both single and both (not that they'd admit it) quite lonely. Marnie is a proofreader/copy editor and works from home. Michael is a geography teacher and loves nothing better than going off on long walks just on his own. They both have a mutual friend in Cleo who is trying to persuade them to become less reclusive... long story short, there's this walk, quite a long one, that goes coast to coast. Takes 10 days to complete. Michael is up for the whole shebang, Cleo, her son Anthony, Marnie and another friend Conrad are only doing the first weekend...
And that's all I'm saying as anything else I try and say will not do the book justice. From Marnie's initial preparations, to the book she is editing, to the establishments they stay in en route. There are so many side stories outwith the main narrative that had me chuckling, cringing, laughing, shocked, and everything in-between.
Its a very character driven book and boy does this author know how to write and develop characters. They really got under my skin. All of them, and all for very different reasons. And, more importantly, they all felt completely real. I do admit to having got a bit over involved in them and also admit to shouting at the book on occasion.
I could probably go on and on about this book, about how sad I was when I got to the end. About how the characters have stayed with me. But what I really should do is finish this review with the simple line. If this is your genre, stop reading reviews and just read the darned book...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.