MY BOOKS
Formerly a struggling actor, he
began writing for television 20
years ago and then moved on
to fiction. His novels have sold
more than eight million copies
worldwide. He lives in London.
This novel was inspired by...
”Getting older, I suppose, and
a sense of nostalgia. I’ve written a
lot about family and relationships
in our 30s and 40s, and I wanted
to go back to the beginning, to
try and capture the exuberance
and foolishness of growing up.
Shakespeare played a part too –
I wanted to write something that
celebrated his writing without
being pompous or pretentious.”I’m attracted to writing love
stories because... “Falling
in love is usually the central
event of someone’s life
and why wouldn’t an
author want to take on
that experience? Love
stories are never just that- they can be comedies or
tragedies, and our experience
of love changes as we change.”
My writing habits are... “Insanely
dull. The only way to get anything
done is to be entirely practical...
I’m at my desk at 8.30am every
day and the next eight hours are
spent wrestling with the desire
to waste time on social media.”
Alan Duff is a New Zealand
writer best known for his
novel Once Were Warriors.
His latest book is called A
Conversation with my Country
(Penguin Random House, $38).
My favourite book ever is...
“I can’t bear the thought of
having only one favourite book,
so let’s make it two. Ragtime
by EL Doctorow – the language
is exquisite and the story mind-
blowing. Like Doctorow,
Australian great Tim Winton’s
Cloudstreet pushes the barriers
of language. His characters are
everyday people yet they sear
into your brain forever.”
My book of the moment is...
“I’ve just finished Educated by
Tara Westover, which is about a
woman growing up in an Idaho
survivalist family of religious
fundamentalists. It’s a must-
read. I’m now reading and
thoroughly enjoying Purgatory
by Kiwi Rosetta Allan.”D
avid Nicholls is the author
of mega-bestseller One
Day and specialises in
romance novels with a strong
male viewpoint.
His latest, Sweet Sorrow, is
a coming-of-age story about
first love and those tricky years
trying to get to grips with the
complexities of the adult world.
Soaked in nostalgia, the novel
opens on the final day of school
as Charlie Lewis and his raucous
band of mates celebrate their
impending freedom at the
school-leavers’ disco.
Very soon the elation is gone
and Charlie is facing a grim
reality. He’s bored and lonely,
has problems at home and
no idea what he wants to do
with the summer, let alone his
whole future. Then he has
has a chance meeting with
a girl called Fran Fisher.
There’s only one way to get
to know her and that involvesjoining a theatre company that‘s
putting on a production of
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
in a nearby country house.
Charlie is a terrible actor but
he really, really likes Fran and
gradually drifts away from
his old crowd, falls madly in
love and even starts to quite
like Shakespeare.
While it’s funny, poignant and
insightful, Sweet Sorrow does
feel overwritten at times. It’s
filled with long rhapsodies about
stuff such as youth and love, and
often I felt Charlie’s voice got
lost, with the author stepping
out of character to ramble
on lyrically as he tried
to make some point
or other.
Still, I did enjoy
this romantic read, in
particular its characters –
Charlie’s troubled father, his
mother trying to do her best
in a tough situation, his awfulfriends and Charlie himself,
flawed but immensely likeable
as he navigates the ups and
downs of his life.
Sweet Sorrow really captures
how it feels to be a teenager
and is a sensitive and emotional
read that anyone can relate to.FOR 16-YEAR-OLD CHARLIE, A SUMMER OF
LOVE WILL HAVE FAR-REACHING EFFECTSPAINS
Growing
Nicky Pellegrino
BOOKS EDITORYoung at heart!
readingCORNER
About the author... David Nicholls
Want to make Sweet
Sorrow your next book club
read? Here’s a talking point to
kick off the discussion: What
do you think of David
Nicholls’ portrayal of
first love? Is it
idealised?YOUR^
BOOK CLUBSweet Sorrow by David Nicholls
(Hachette, RRP $34.99)BOOK
WEEK
of the
New Zealand Woman’s Weekly 79