Sweet Sorrow

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Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls: 1. Leaving School

1. Leaving School

Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls

BBC Radio 4 - Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls, 1. Leaving School

Charlie Lewis looks back on the summer after he left school.

4 Extra Debut. Charlie Lewis reflects on the summer after he left school - vivid memories of sunshine and Fran Fisher. Read by James Norton.

Charlie Lewis looks back on the summer after he left school. Those weeks of blazing sunshine remain as vivid as his memories of Fran Fisher.

A decade after publication of his bestselling novel, One Day, David Nicholls has again created a triumphantly engaging pair of young lovers.

When Charlie Lewis meets Fran Fisher in the summer of 1996, he is at something of a loose end. 

School is out and so is the sun, but his future is not looking bright. He has been hit hard by his parents' split and is not happy about the role assigned to him by his mother - keeping an eye on his depressed and bankrupt father.

Failure hangs in the air - not just the closure of his father's record shop but also Charlie's inability to complete most of his GCSE exams. But then Fran Fisher almost literally stumbles across him and a whole new world opens up. 

A pitch-perfect portrayal of the anguish and joys of adolescence brilliantly laced with wit and compassionate humour.

James Norton, familiar from roles in McMafia and War and Peace as well as the psychopathic villain in BBC TV's Happy Valley, reads his first book for BBC Radio.

Abridged in ten parts by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters 

Producer: Jill Waters

A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2019.

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The new novel by David Nicholls, a bittersweet and brilliantly funny coming-of-age tale.

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Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls

1. Leaving School

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