Published By: Sceptre
Pages: 368
Released On: 23/04/2024
Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way
Marnie is stuck.
Stuck working alone in her London flat, stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that often feels like it’s passing her by.
Michael is coming undone.
Reeling from his wife’s departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells.
When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship.
But can they survive the journey?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Sceptre for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
Like every bibliophile, I went a bit mad when I received an early e-copy of David’s new book. I mean, has he ever written anything not fabulous? And with the new series of One Day, I love that a new generation of audiences are discovering his work.
Okay…it mentions Stevenage. That’s a bonus just for me. I love it when I spot it mentioned in books. It is so often mentioned in derogatory ways and so to see it in a normal context within a page or two was a nice bonus for me.
I instantly felt a kinship to Marnie. She sounded like me, she wanted similar things, and she felt so familiar. And, if that wasn’t enough, she’s a freelance copywriter and proofreader – which is what I am! She’s obsessed with reading. She packs 12 pairs of pants for 3 days, which I do. It became a bit freaky. I’m worried I actually wrote this character and sent her to David so it wouldn’t look so egotistical; I’ve never seen myself more in a character than I do Marnie.
I also adored Michael. He’s a bit of a loner perhaps, but a gorgeous one at that. He’s passionate and kind and just perfect, and I loved him and I want one.
It flits between Marnie’s point of view, and Michael’s point of view, with a couple of pages dedicated to each before it flips. This could have been potentially repetitive, as some scenes are seen from both angles, but I actually think it’s one of the book’s strengths. It gives us two thoughts of what’s happening which means you get to know the individuals more and how they’d work, or not work, together. It’s a very interesting way of writing and was the perfect format for this story.
This may sound a bit weird, but go with it. I know good authors can write any characters, but for a man to write a female character like this (or vice versa, I suppose), to write it so intimately and intricately, is just fabulous. He’s not written a carboard cut-out of a woman, she’s so well rounded and expertly created. I mean, I’m a woman and even I’m not sure I could write a woman this well.
David is so skilled at writing normality. Normal people, normal jobs, normal relationships, normal lives, just…normal. Readers can identify with the goings-on and will them on. And his characters!! They could easily become a kind of paint-by-numbers character of what a person might be like, especially a lonely person, stereotypically weird even, but there’s so much heart in his creations that the characters become friends, become loves.
He also makes every setting seem glorious. I mean, this is set in and around Yorkshire and The Lake District, which is an area of the country I adore, but for some, it’s not particularly glamorous, especially in the rain. It doesn’t shout Hollywood glamour perhaps. But for me, that’s what I love about it. He is making the most familiar and “ordinary” settings shine.
It’s an easy book to read, pleasant and lovely and enjoyable and uplifting and all-absorbing. It’s not full of scares or thrills or anything like that. I mean, I like books like that, but for this one, it would have felt entirely out of place. Instead, this is an exploration of humanity, of the mundane and everyday, an exploration of friendship and romance, of exploring our countryside, of loneliness, and, an exploration of dialogue.
Dialogue can be hard to depict truthfully in books. Sometimes it feels like…well, it feels like exactly what it is, made up. But with this book, and David’s books in general, it’s full of conversation and whilst you are aware it is false, it feels so real that you forget you’re reading a book. You feel like you’re listening to a conversation between friends. That’s very skilful.
I loved the discussion around being alone and being lonely. For many, myself included, they like their own company, curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a good book. I mean, I know I’m not 100% in good health currently and so that kind of dictates what I do, but even before then, the idea of going out socialising or partying or whatnot fills me with dread. A weekly doctors appointment is enough social interaction for me. But for extroverts, they assume you must be lonely and try to drag you to everything, and that’s just not everyone’s cup of tea. And I think David’s done a really good job of exploring the differences between being a lone and being lonely.
He loves what he writes, that much you can tell. That after 2 decades, he still holds that passion for his craft, and it’s still as good. His first books were excellent, and his recent books are excellent. I would put him in the same vein as John Boyne (of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas fame), in that there has never been a bad book by him. Some may speak to you more than others, and you may enjoy certain aspects more than others, but you know you’re always going to get a good book, regardless of the topic, and that’s comforting, this knowledge that you can rely on them.
Could I see this being turned into a film or series? Yes, definitely. Perhaps a limited series; each episode covers one day of the walk, maybe? I think it would transfer to the screen extremely well.
Whilst I do appreciate every book that I get sent, and I will never take that for granted, it’s like the best thing every for me – especially whilst I’ve been so ill over the past few years – but every so often you get as book that reminds you of why you love reading so much, reminds you how much power and hope and joy that the written word can give you. And that is this book for me. From the very start to the very end.
It is awkward and honest and funny and romantic and silly and real, and just a joy to read. It’s hopeful and life-affirming, sad and joyful, beautiful, loving, hopeful, imperfect, human, and positive – I couldn’t bear to finish it.
Books By Your Bedside 