THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'That most rare and coveted of literary feats: a popular novel of
serious merit a bestseller that will also endure.' Observer 'Triumph ... the sense of
nostalgia is visceral and intense almost time-bending.' The Sunday Times 'Pitch perfect ...
Exquisite ... Terrific ... Very funny ... Though Sweet Sorrow is certainly pulse-quickening
enough to absorb readers through this summer's airport delays and rained-off beach days it's
no escapist fantasy. The tale of Charlie and Fran will linger long beyond your tan.' Telegraph
One life-changing summer Charlie meets Fran... In 1997 Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you
don't remember in the school photograph. His exams have not gone well. At home he is looking
after his father when surely it should be the other way round and if he thinks about the
future at all it is with a kind of dread. Then Fran Fisher bursts into his life and despite
himself Charlie begins to hope. But if Charlie wants to be with Fran he must take on a
challenge that could lose him the respect of his friends and require him to become a different
person. He must join the Company. And if the Company sounds like a cult the truth is even more
appalling. The price of hope it seems is Shakespeare. Poignant funny enchanting
devastating Sweet Sorrow is a tragicomedy about the rocky path to adulthood and the confusion
of family life a celebration of the reviving power of friendship and that brief searing
explosion of first love that can only be looked at directly after it has burned out. 'A
compassionate intelligent look at the raw pain and loneliness of a teenage boy the everyday
miracle of first love and the perennial power of Shakespeare's language.' Spectator 'A superbly
written beautifully observed account of teenage life love family dysfunction and friendship
which builds to a stunningly poignant ending.' Heat 'The author of Us and of course One Day has
never written with more tenderness and insight than in this bittersweet story ... perfectly
captures the dizzying highs and lows of first love.' Daily Express 'Such a beautiful book.
Captures perfectly a moment in time we've all experienced.' Graham Norton
