Marnie, a divorced Londoner, and Michael, a recently separated teacher from York, are persuaded by a mutual friend to join her for a few days on a walking holiday. An unlikely friendship is formed between the pair.
No doubt the coast-to-coast route will be packed with new walkers for a while thanks to the wonderful writing of David Nicholls in You Are Here. The descriptions of the route, even at its bleakest, are enticing, although one or two of the fictional hotels/B&B's should be given a wide berth.
It's the characters involved in You Are Here that really grabbed my attention. The author takes his time to establish them, we have a real sense of who they are long before the walking begins.
Marnie is thirty-eight, a copy-editor and proofreader, who lives in London and works from home. Her divorce and the pandemic have caused her world to shrink drastically. She's lonely, days at a time can go by without her speaking to anyone and the positives of working from home because of the pandemic have lost their shine. Her experience of romance has also left her believing that the risks far outweigh the rewards.
Teacher Michael is forty-two and recently separated, something he has struggled to come to terms with. His life seems to be paused as he waits, and hopes, for his wife to return. Michael is suffering from depression and PTSD following a vicious assault and as a result looks for solitude. Long, solitary walks are currently the only solution to Michael's problems.
Thanks to a mutual friend, Cleo, the pair find themselves as part of a group on a short walking holiday. Cleo has tried to do a bit of secret match-making, however, this falls at the first hurdle when the person she thought would be an ideal match for Michael fails to turn up.
The walk begins at St. Bees and the plan is to follow the route of the famous coast-to-coast walk for a few days before returning home. Michael, however, has other plans. He has decided that once the rest of the walking party leaves he will complete the full route alone, giving him the solitude he so desperately desires.
As members of the group drop out an unlikely friendship develops between Marnie and Michael, with Marnie repeatedly putting off her return to London. It is clear from the outset that they have a spark, and their sense of humour is attuned, this isn't simply the desperation of two lonely individuals. As the pair get to know each other they slowly begin to lower their defenses and we learn more about their lives. The pair realise that they met briefly once before at a christening. Michael asks Marnie if he could also have met her ex-husband, her reply is "Anyone patronise you, start an argument, talk over you?". You seriously wonder why Marnie married in the first place and how such a feisty, intelligent and funny woman is single.
The story isn't all funny jokes and a budding romance, there are some truly poignant moments that will bring tears to your eyes, particularly involving another pair of walkers they keep bumping into.
The premise of a story about the coast-to-coast walk didn't immediately appeal to me but this tentative romance involving two people who have been trodden down by life and broken by failed relationships filled me with hope. Anyone who is a little unsure if this book is for them should take a leap of faith.
Author Details
David Nicholls is the bestselling author of Starter for Ten, The Understudy, One Day, Us, Sweet Sorrow and You Are Here. One Day was published in 2009 to extraordinary critical acclaim: translated into 40 languages, it became a global bestseller, selling millions of copies worldwide. His fourth novel, Us, was longlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction. On screen, David has written adaptations of Far from the Madding Crowd, When Did You Last See Your Father? and Great Expectations, as well as of his own novels, Starter for Ten, One Day and Us. His adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, was nominated for an Emmy and won him a BAFTA for best writer. The Netflix adaptation of One Day was executive-produced by David.
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