You are here by David Nicholls

David Nicholl's You are here has arrived on the shelves accompanied by well-deserved rapturous reviews. Sometimes a novel that follows a critically acclaimed one such as One Day (2009) can suffer by comparison but in this case David Nicholls does not disappoint. One wonders just how Nicholls can be such an accurate and authentic observer and chronicler of human relationships. In a way that is not easily accomplished by many authors, Nicholls writes equally effectively whether he is reflecting the female or the male perspective. This is extremely difficult for an author to achieve as authenticity lies in the detail. Nicholls nails the inner thoughts and feelings and speech and behaviour of the main protagonists, both Marnie and Michael, so effectively that one has to say that he is a very, very astute observer of human behaviour and must be the beneficiary of a lifetime's experience of being very closely immersed with people.

Readers could not help but like the characters of Marnie and Michael, two divorcees in the forty year old zone. They are very relatable characters; Marnie being a copy editor and Michael a Geography teacher. A mutual friend has not given up on trying to matchmake for both Marnie and Michael with various people. She organises a group to hike together on the coast to coast walk which stretches across Cumbria and Yorkshire from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. Marnie and Michael find themselves alone on this walk...

The engrossed reader, absorbed in the story, could well miss the cleverness of the structure of You are here. The plot journey plays out along the coast to coast trail with maps of each trail section providing geographic structure for the reader. Nicholls acknowledges the advice of cartographers from Barking Dog Art and Dolly Alderton a journalist, solo traveller and another clear- eyed chronicler of relationships on working with the maps. Nicholls ...'has always wanted to write a book with maps.' The book is divided into parts - Home, The Lakes, The Dales, The Moors and Autumn. Each part is further divided into the days of the journey. Each part is prefaced by an apt quote from poets including Edna St Vincent Millay, Keats and E.M Forster. Chapters alternate the narrative voices of Marnie and Michael. 

The novel explores the idea of getting older; choosing to live alone or taking the risk of the chance of new love. It is both moving and frequently funny and very familiar territory for many readers. There is a circularity - a satisfactory tying up of the story line - the cleverness of the observations, the reflections, the different remembrances and interpretations of the same situation abound throughout the novel with gorgeous understated visual vignettes such as ...'She knew he would be watching so she put her hands deep into her pockets, swishing the coat just a little, as if it were propelling her, seeking out piles of dry leaves for the full effect.' The dialogue is witty.The situations  are frequently hilariously awkward. Our protagonists are self deprecating and constantly replay their experiences: kicking themselves, trying too hard, getting it wrong and criticising themselves in retrospect. All in all Marnie and Michael are warmly human and we feel for them and laugh and writhe in sympathy with the messiness of the human situation (the awkwardness of dating and daring to try for a new future) so shrewdly depicted. Nicholls excels at portraying the minutiae of human communication and relationships. It is comforting to read about characters bumbling into and extricating themselves, sometimes clumsily, from the very familiar dilemmas and situations that arise particularly for older people as they re-enter the dating scene.

Oh - one extra and recommended thing for the reader to try... On day 5, Marnie and Michael listen to a random shuffle of music on their phones. Try playing the music as they play it. It really adds an extra dimension as it provides a musical accompaniment that parallels their conversations as they hike the trail. Music includes Black Magic by Little Mix (2015), El Condor Pasa by Simon and Garfunkel (1970), Don't Speak by No Doubt (1996)Pull it up to the Bumper by Grace Jones (1981), No Limit by 2 Unlimited (1993) and Here comes the Sun by the Beatles(1969).

A raw but hopeful and comforting love story. Highly recommended.

Themes: Love and loneliness, Hiking the coast to coast walk England.

Wendy Jeffrey