Sweet Sorrow cover art

Sweet Sorrow

 Preview
Free with 30-day trial
A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.

Sweet Sorrow

By: David Nicholls
Narrated by: Rory Kinnear
Free with 30-day trial

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

One life-changing summer, Charlie meets Fran...David Nicholls’s highly anticipated new novel, narrated by Rory Kinnear.

In 1997, Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you don't remember in the school photograph. His exams have not gone well. At home he is looking after his father, when surely it should be the other way round, and if he thinks about the future at all, it is with a kind of dread.

Then Fran Fisher bursts into his life and despite himself, Charlie begins to hope.

But if Charlie wants to be with Fran, he must take on a challenge that could lose him the respect of his friends and require him to become a different person. He must join the Company. And if the Company sounds like a cult, the truth is even more appalling.

The price of hope, it seems, is Shakespeare. Poignant, funny, enchanting, devastating, Sweet Sorrow is a tragicomedy about the rocky path to adulthood and the confusion of family life, a celebration of the reviving power of friendship and that brief, searing explosion of first love that can only be looked at directly after it has burned out.

©2019 David Nicholls (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Romance Tear-jerking

Critic Reviews

"Nicholls is fabulous on first love and Kinnear’s narration strikes the perfect balance between teenage defiance and vulnerability." (Daily Mail)

"Such a beautiful book. Captures perfectly a moment in time we've all experienced." (Graham Norton)

"He's such a genius. His novels are relatable and recognizable, but also surprising, breath-taking and life-enhancing." (Nina Stibbe)
All stars
Most relevant
I seem to like the book more than my friends who read it (for book club), I think because of the narrator. But also loved the story overall.

Narrator was brilliant, so talented.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
very enjoyable story from a teenaged boy's perspective of his parents marriage breakdown and effect on him and his own first love. Conversational style well read.

great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really loved this book - I laughed my way through about 2/3 of it and (almost) cried my way through the last 1/3. I didn’t want the book to end. The story was compelling, and Rory Kinnear brought the characters to life with his narration. Every voice was winner and I could picture them all vividly. I got way more out of listening to this book than I could have done reading it to myself. Anyone who was a confused and awkward adolescent will find this book strikes a real chord. Highly recommend!

An excellent listen!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Re-live your adolescent former self and first love in this funny and affectionate tale. The narration was perfect thank you Rory Kinnear, the story superb.

Love is such sweet sorrow

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The first review I’ve left - Incredibly moving story with the most wonderful narration. Just beautiful

Best narration I’ve ever heard. So so beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved how he brought the characters to life. Great story and exploration of a young man’s teenage years

Amazing narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved it. Made me laugh and even cry.
Rory Kinnear brought it to magical life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
New and inventive take on a childhood love story. Rory Kinnear is at his best. Highly recommended

Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved listening to Rory Kinnear read Sweet Sorrow. He was the perfect narrator. Such a nostalgic tale for anyone who was a teenager or young adult in the 90s. David Nicholls captures the bittersweet nature of first love through the eyes of a teenage boy, brilliantly.

Bittersweet and really quite beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was a beautiful and poignant story brought to life by the totally fantastic Rory Kinnear who I could listen to for hours. Highly recommend this. Thank you for a transportive experience. Magic

Rory Kinnear is brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.