Write on Kew

David Nicholls has a fine pedigree as a writer - one of those kinds of writers that you think of when you think of stories of very British situations laced with drama, romance, pathos and fantastic humour. He has written four novels (Starter for Ten, The Understudy, One Day and Us). When it came out in paperback, 'One Day' was the book around most pools in every holiday destination you can think of, and has since been made into a film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. I remember very clearly reading it in Santorini. The beauty of the characters and the pureness of their love and discovery of each other felt right on the gorgeous Greek island where the sun only slept briefly. That was until the day THAT THING happened! It wasn't even at the end of the bloody book so it shocked me. I will never forget the look on my husband's face as I declared "Oh!" and pushed my Kindle away from me across the table, as if distancing myself from the words would make it all go away!

'Us', which I read recently, is a lovely, bittersweet tale of a family in crisis. Amongst the angst, the anger and the desperate clinging onto what at times seems impossible, there is David's trademark humour. He has the ability to make you laugh at the most absurd, the most mundane and the most heartbreakingly tragic things.

I am thrilled to say that I am going to see David at the Literary Festival "Write on Kew", at Kew Gardens in London on 26th September. Here he will talk about 'Us' and also about how he mixes tragedy and comedy to great effect in his writing.