David Nicholls strana 2 z 4

One life-changing summer Charlie meets Fran... 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. '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

Čo s dvadsaťročným manželstvom vedca a maliarky, keď rodinné hniezdo ostane prázdne? Douglas Petersen je dosť nevýrazný, uzavretý vedec zažratý do svojej výskumnej práce. Má „celkom fajn tvár, oči, ktoré sú možno láskavé, ale aj najhnedšie, aké pozná, nos ani veľký, ani malý, a úsmev, ktorý fotografov vždy zaskočí“. Za jeho rezervovaným správaním sa však skrýva svojský zmysel pre humor. Vďaka nemu, napočudovanie, presvedčil krásnu Connie, aby s ním išla aj na druhé rande… a nakoniec sa zaňho vydala. Teraz po vyše dvadsiatich rokoch od svojho prvého bozku žijú šťastne a spokojne na predmestí so svojím náladovým synom Albiem zvaným Vajce, ktorý sa práve chystá na univerzitu. A odrazu Connie manželovi oznámi, že sa chce rozviesť! Nemohla si to načasovať horšie. Connie naplánovala mesačnú rodinnú okružnú cestu po európskych mestách v snahe podporiť umelecké sklony svojho potomka a ukázať mu najslávnejšie svetové výtvarné diela. A hoci sa chce s manželom rozísť, tento plán zrušiť nemieni. Douglas verí, že ak sa výlet uskutoční, azda všetko nakoniec dobre dopadne. Tajne dúfa, že mu to pomôže zachrániť manželstvo a pritom sa aj zblížiť so synom, ktorý mu niekedy pripadá ako cudzí. A tak sa začne jeho odysea od slávnych parížskych múzeí cez amsterdamské ulice a benátske kaviarne až po barcelonské pláže. Bude to Douglasovo posledné leto v úlohe manžela, alebo nastane okamih, keď sa jeho manželstvo a možno aj celý život zmení? Z anglického originálu Us (HarperCollins Publishers, London 2014) preložila Tamara Chovanová. Ukážka z textu Všeobecne prevláda názor, že mužom vek do istého času pridáva na príťažlivosti. Ak je to pravda, potom ja som tú hranicu už prekročil. „Krémuj sa!“ dohovárala mi Connie krátko po našom zoznámení, ale ja som bol asi rovnako ochotný krémovať sa ako dať si potetovať krk, v dôsledku čoho mám teraz pokožku asi ako Jabba the Hutt z Hviezdnych vojen. Už niekoľko rokov vyzerám v tričku hlúpo, ale usilujem sa udržať v dobrej kondícii. Dávam si záležať na tom, čo jem, aby som nedopadol ako môj otec, ktorý predčasne zomrel na srdcový infarkt. Lekár sa vyjadril, že jeho srdce „v podstate vybuchlo“ – mal som dojem, že to povedal s nepatričným pôžitkom –, a preto sporadicky a rozpačito chodím behať a neviem, čo mám pritom robiť s rukami. Možno by som si ich mal založiť za chrbát. Kedysi som rád hrával s Connie badminton, hoci ona sa pritom vždy chichotala a robila grimasy, lebo tá hra sa jej zdala „trochu pochabá“. Je to dosť bežný predsudok. Badminton nemá mladistvú hrdosť skvošu ani romantický nádych tenisu, ale ešte vždy to je najpopulárnejší raketový šport na svete a jeho najlepší hráči sú svetoví atléti s inštinktmi zabijakov.

David Nicholls brings to bear all the wit and intelligence that graced ONE DAY in this brilliant, bittersweet novel about love and family, husbands and wives, parents and children. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014. 'I was looking forward to us growing old together. Me and you, growing old and dying together.' 'Douglas, who in their right mind would look forward to that?' Douglas Petersen understands his wife's need to 'rediscover herself' now that their son is leaving home. He just thought they'd be doing their rediscovering together. So when Connie announces that she will be leaving, too, he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime: one that will draw the three of them closer, and win the respect of his son. One that will make Connie fall in love with him all over again. The hotels are booked, the tickets bought, the itinerary planned and printed. What could possibly go wrong?

David Nicholls brings the wit and intelligence that graced his New York Times bestseller, One Day, to a compellingly human, deftly funny novel about what holds marriages and families together—and what happens, and what we learn about ourselves, when everything threatens to fall apart. Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that, against all odds, seduces beautiful Connie into a second date . . . and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades after their relationship first blossomed in London, they live more or less happily in the suburbs with their moody seventeen year-old son, Albie. Then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce. The timing couldn’t be worse. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway? Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage, and might even help him to bond with Albie. Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves, and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger. It is a moving meditation on the demands of marriage and parenthood, the regrets of abandoning youth for middle age, and the intricate relationship between the heart and the head.

David Nicholls brings to bear all the wit and intelligence that graced ONE DAY in this brilliant, bittersweet novel about love and family, husbands and wives, parents and children. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014. 'I was looking forward to us growing old together. Me and you, growing old and dying together.' 'Douglas, who in their right mind would look forward to that?' Douglas Petersen understands his wife's need to 'rediscover herself' now that their son is leaving home. He just thought they'd be doing their rediscovering together. So when Connie announces that she will be leaving, too, he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime: one that will draw the three of them closer, and win the respect of his son. One that will make Connie fall in love with him all over again. The hotels are booked, the tickets bought, the itinerary planned and printed. What could possibly go wrong?

`I can imagine you at forty,` she said, a hint of malice in her voice. `I can picture it right now.`He smiled without opening his eyes. `Go on then.`15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways.So where will they be on this one day next year?And the year after that? And every year that follows?Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY.