Sweet Sorrow
David Nicholls
The master storyteller and author of One Day returns with the bittersweet story of teenager Charlie who, in the summer of 1997, has just messed up his A-levels, distracted by his parents’ divorce. His mother and sister have moved out, leaving him alone with his depressed father.
Charlie’s life stretches drearily ahead and he longs for an escape. Which arrives in the form of Fran Fisher, a local girl playing Juliet in an amateur production of Romeo And Juliet. Charlie very reluctantly joins the theatre group to ensure he sees Fran again and what follows is a touching and resonant depiction of first love.
Piercingly observant, gloriously funny and achingly sad, this is David Nicholls’ best book yet.
BY CHARLOTTE HEATHCOTE
Hodder & Stoughton, £20
The Carer
Deborah Moggach
As elderly particle physicist James Wentworth grows more decrepit, his new carer Mandy seems like a godsend to his middle-aged children. But the more comfortable Mandy gets, the more they question whether she’s the blessing she seems. Moggach’s latest is full of warmth and humour as well as blistering truths about the sorrowful threads that bind families.
BY ROSIE HOPEGOOD
Tinder Press, £16.99
Knife
Jo Nesbo
In the 12th Harry Hole thriller, Jo Nesbo surpasses his own dark standards with repulsive villain Svein Finne. Harry is so obsessed with Finne that his marriage has broken down and he is back on the bottle. Then
he wakes feeling hazy after a bender to find himself under suspicion of a terrible crime. Nesbo indulges his unique, deliciously horrible vision of the world once again.
BY JAKE KERRIDGE
Harvill Secker, £20
Factfulness
Hans Rosling
When we’re asked simple questions about global trends, we almost always get the answers wrong. That’s the starting point for this accessible smart-thinking read which reveals the preconceptions that make us misunderstand the way the world works. Fans of the book, written with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, include Barack Obama and Bill Gates.
BY CAROLINE SANDERSON
Sceptre, £9.99
Join the Mirror Book Club!
Each month we choose a paperback we think you’ll enjoy – sometimes fiction, sometimes non-fiction. And when you’ve read it, we’d love you to join our Facebook group ( facebook.com/groups/mirrorbookclub ) and tell us what you thought, good or bad. We’d also love to know what else you’re reading – and which books we should pick for the Mirror Book Club…
Current Mirror Book Club read: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
