Keeping the romance alive

No heart feelings. David Nicholls says that all love stories are actually about loneliness. One Day gave us hope. His new novel, You Are Here, gives us more

- Kanika Sharma

Reading David Nicholls’s books is like being in the most intense relationship. It is love at first sight; you’ll full-on crush over every flawed character, every fated meet-cute. You’ll die a little inside with every twist. You’ll replay scenes in your head long after the closing chapter.

Nicholls’s One Day – that epic tale of hook-ups, false starts, detours, love, and loss – was adapted into a Netflix series last year, leaving old and new fans ugly-crying at their screens. You Are Here, his latest follows two middle-aged individuals finding each other (and themselves) on a walking trail in Northern England after their self-imposed isolation in the pandemic. No heartstring is left untugged, as usual. We wanted to know how he weaves in attraction and destruction, friendship and loneliness in equal measure.

So, we cornered him at this edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival, and asked him.