‘There are laughs, ­surprises, and moments that moved me to tears’ – John Boyne on David Nicholls’s latest

Fiction

Author David Nicholls pictured for People and Culture. Photo: Gerry Mooney

John Boyne

There’s a line in ­David Nicholls’s new ­novel where Marnie, a ­passionate reader, ­r­emarks that sometimes, by the end of a novel’s first page, you know it isn’t going to be for you. By the same logic, there are occasions when, just as quickly, you know you’ve found a winner.

In February, I was ­returning to Ireland from ­Australia, with two lengthy flights ahead of me and a list of films I planned watching en route. When I took my seat, however, I began reading You Are Here and, by the time I landed in Dublin, I’d finished it.