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David Nicholls.

You Are Here by David Nicholls review – a well-mapped romance

A midlife couple take a hike through the Lake District in this witty and likable crowd-pleaser

David Nicholls enjoys a bit of structural scaffolding. In his debut, 2003’s student romance Starter for Ten , it is the TV quiz University Challenge. A European Interrail itinerary forms a backdrop to empty-nester marital crisis in Us , and the love story One Day, which has sold more than 5m copies and is now a global Netflix hit , is made up of 20 years of St Swithin’s Days. His sixth novel, You Are Here, is pinned to geographical locations: a well-planned hike through the Lake District, where route-specific section headings – “Day One: St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge”, “Day Two: Ennerdale Bridge to Borrowdale” – map out another ferociously likable romance.

Michael, 42, a bearded geography teacher from York, is walking 200 miles across Britain in order not to think about his recent divorce. His concerned friend Cleo gathers a small party to accompany him for the first few days, including her old friend Marnie, 38, a copy editor, also divorced, living in Herne Hill. Marnie’s friends have all married and moved out of London. Working from home, she is seriously isolated, bantering with household objects or “listlessly foraging on social media”. Loneliness brings shame, though, and when her TV’s streaming device produces a What a Year! slideshow from her photos involving closeups of ingrown hairs and dry-cleaning receipts, she forces herself to accept Cleo’s invitation as “the kind of potentially awful experience she needed”.

Matchmaker Cleo also invites a triathlete called Tess for Michael, and a handsome pharmacist, Conrad, for Marnie. But Tess cancels, as does Cleo’s husband, so the party consists of Cleo and her taciturn teenage son, with Marnie, Michael and Conrad. Distracted by Conrad’s looks, Marnie barely registers Michael’s solid appeal, despite neon signs flashing at the reader: “A low voice, slight accent, a jumper, beard and scruffy hair that might all have been home-knitted.” Kicking pebbles by the Irish Sea, just before they set off, he hands her a stone. “Nothing flash. Understated. Classic.” You’d think Cleo would have earmarked the incredibly decent nice guy rather than a vapid pharmacist for her best friend, but had she done so there would be no plot. Bright, bookish Marnie therefore initially pursues Conrad, who isn’t very smart and doesn’t like books, but loves Formula One. What follows, told in alternating narratives by Marnie and Michael, involves witty conversation, weather, overnight stops, mild drunken escapades and tugged heartstrings.

Nicholls knows how to make unpromising characters appealing. Michael is cut from the same sturdy cloth as Douglas, the biochemist narrator of Us. He is practical, witty, self-deprecating and liable to feel foolish. At one point, forced to eat alone in a romantic hotel, his “face set in the expression of someone who has tripped on a paving stone but is incorporating it into their walk”. Marnie, meanwhile, is doggedly relatable. Exhausted, flirting fiercely with Conrad, she wonders if it’s possible to “kittenishly throw up”. Backstories are gently woven: unremarkable childhoods, how their marriages fell apart, the arc of their careers. Then everyone else goes home, and we are left with Marnie, Michael, their growing sexual chemistry and Britain’s spectacular landscapes.

Nicholls’s novels often confound narrative expectations – most notably with the shock ending of One Day – but there are few surprises here. Short, pacy chapters are energised by a trail mix of jolly headings: in one section, playlist songs that Marnie and Michael share – “Don’t Speak by No Doubt (1996)”, “No Limit by 2 Unlimited (1992)”. Droll signposting aside, we are following the Jane Austen map of romantic plotting: two wounded but complementary souls, initial indifference, misdirected affections, growing attraction, misunderstandings, obstacles, hope and resolution.

In less expert hands this could feel almost absurdly formulaic. That it doesn’t is down to Nicholls’s extraordinary ability to capture the absurdity of modern life in pithy textural details. An inn where “real-ale drinkers snored and farted, fibreglass duvets billowing like sails”, has a shower like “a kettle poured onto the back of his neck”. A pillow is “filled with something fibrous, asbestos perhaps”; Michael’s hair has a “permanent exasperated air”. Almost every page contains these gems, and so the experience of reading involves endless nods of recognition that generate a tender, reassuring bond between author and reader. In the end, Nicholls’s novels all essentially say the same thing: yes, life is a bit cruel but it’s OK because we’re in this together. Bad things happen – people drop down dead in this book, too – but there are ancient rock formations, pubs serving fish and chips, and decent, plucky people falling in love in hiking boots. If You Are Here was an animal, it would be a mildly limping labrador: adorable, very British, poignant but plucky, and certain to heal.

Towards the end, Marnie tells Michael that Cleo warned her he was “wry”. “At least I wasn’t whimsical,” he says. The line between wry and whimsical can be perilous, but Nicholls stays on the right side. He is also a screenwriter, most recently with the adaptation of One Day, and it is skilful dialogue – Marnie and Michael communicate in witty Netflix-ready exchanges – that keeps everything on track.

There is satisfaction to be taken from this midlife redemption tale, not least because it fills a gap: Nicholls’s novels now cover love and marriage across every age bracket from teens to mid-50s. It may not be challenging – unlike Austen’s Persuasion, quoted in the epigraph, it offers neither visceral desperation nor pent-up agonies – but for many it will be a comforting antidote to the grimness of our grim world, a crowd-pleaser and, surely, a TV hit-to-be.

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I read David Nicholls’ new book You Are Here – you’ll love it as much as One Day

Nicholls' sixth novel is lovely, compelling and probably his best yet .

book review you are here

David Nicholls has an extraordinary talent for making us care deeply about his characters. We were reminded of this in February when Netflix adapted his hit third novel One Day into a miniseries . At the time, my WhatsApp exchanges were such that my most frequently used and suggested emojis were: heartbreak emoji, crying emoji, different kind of crying emoji. I was also sent more than one selfie by a friend just after they had finished the show, eyes red and swollen from sobbing.

The last time I remember something prompting such a reaction was in 2009 when the novel itself came out; a time where you could look around any train carriage and there would be at least one person clutching their orange copy (and, depending on where they were in the book, possibly mopping away tears).

The thing is, this love story – and its infamous ending – wouldn’t prompt such a reaction if it weren’t for the fact that by the time you finish it, you feel as though its protagonists, Emma and Dexter, aren’t just characters at all: they are people you know and care about.

The same is true in You Are Here , Nicholls’ sixth book. Here, it’s for Marnie and Michael, our “lost souls” who find themselves walking the coast-to-coast path together; two relative strangers making this epic, 200-mile journey across the moors, mountains and fells of Cumbria and Yorkshire. After finishing the novel, I felt as though I had been on that journey with them, and in the days that followed I caught myself thinking about Marnie and Michael; wondering how they are and what they might be doing now.

This image released by Netflix shows Ambika Mod, right, and Leo Woodall in a scene from the mini-series "One Day." (Netflix via AP)

Through chapters alternating between their perspectives, Nicholls takes equal care with both characters. First, we meet Marnie, a 38-year-old, divorced freelance copy editor holed up in a flat in London. The opening of the book is one of the most compelling and unhackneyed portraits of loneliness I’ve read in a while, told through simple but startling images, such as when Marnie notes how her birthday gatherings reduce further in scale with each milestone – like a “once popular band obliged to play ever smaller venues”.

Michael, meanwhile, is a York-based geography teacher who we first come across during a school trip in Wales as he is lecturing a group of bored students about glacial erosion. At 42, he is also separated, and piecing himself back together following an incident we don’t get a full picture of until towards the end of the book.

Their mutual friend, Cleo, is concerned for both. She accuses Marnie of being a hermit; raises questions about Michael’s increasingly long, solitary treks. So, she hatches a plan, inviting them to join a small cobbled-together group for a walking trip. Michael is tasked with planning the route, while Marnie takes much convincing and relents only after arming herself with enough fleece, nylon and technical gear needed “to feel, in short, that she was still indoors”.

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It isn’t too much of a spoiler to say various obstacles and a turn in the weather later, each of the group have dropped off and the two of them are alone save for the flora, fauna and regular points of geographical interest which Michael, ever the teacher , likes to point out.

Much of the joy of reading Nicholls is his gentle comedy. In You Are Here, this mostly comes from Marnie’s side, particularly when she’s in the latest B&B on her laptop editing a manuscript for an amusingly erotic thriller (“she looked up a synonym for ‘girth’, sighed and closed the lid”).

He also continues to be a shrewd observer of modern life and love. For instance, how Michael’s main source of communication with his ex is “through the streaming accounts they still shared, a strangely intimate diary… written in code. Should he worry about the serial killer documentaries? If she was watching sitcoms, was she happy or sad?” (At least we know how she’d be feeling if it was One Day. ..)

The trouble with having a hit novel is that your work will forevermore be compared to it. But You Are Here is just as good (and possibly even better). To explain why, let me refer to a quote from One Day: “[L]ive passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance.”

You Are Here makes you want to answer that call. It makes you want to get out and walk. It makes you want to seize the day; to do something significant with your life; to not only believe in second chances but go and make them happen. It makes you want to tell someone – anyone – that you love or care about them. I can’t think of a better testament to the power of a David Nicholls novel than that.

Published by Sceptre on 23 April, £20

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, you are here.

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book review you are here

From the internationally bestselling and Booker Prize-longlisted author of ONE DAY, one of the most enduring love stories of its generation, comes an uplifting and unputdownable love story about second chances.

Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way...

Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house.

Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future...if they can survive the journey.

A hilarious, hopeful and heartwarming love story --- the novel beloved New York Times bestselling author David Nicholls calls “my funniest book yet” --- YOU ARE HERE is a bittersweet and hopeful story of first encounters, second chances and finding the way home.

book review you are here

You Are Here by David Nicholls

  • Publication Date: May 28, 2024
  • Genres: Fiction , Romance
  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Harper
  • ISBN-10: 0063394057
  • ISBN-13: 9780063394056

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For 12 Young Asian American Travelers, Turbulence Begins at the Airport

“You Are Here: Connecting Flights,” a story collection edited by Ellen Oh, contends not only with racist aggressions, but also with cultural expectations and adolescent insecurities.

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A color illustration shows an Asian American boy and girl, with luggage, on an airport’s moving sidewalk, reacting to angry and disapproving glances from the grayed-out white people ahead of and behind them.

By Dave Kim

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YOU ARE HERE: Connecting Flights , edited by Ellen Oh

Modern air travel is a perfect distillation of our ailing society, which is why airports make excellent settings for fiction. Drama loves a stressor, and flying offers plenty: the interminable waits, the casual extortion, the brazen inequality, the privacy violations, the dearth of habitable space. Coming or going, you’re bound to suffer.

The airport at the center of “You Are Here: Connecting Flights,” a collection of 12 cleverly linked stories by Asian American authors, happens to be in Chicago. But its mushrooming chaos, due to weather delays and last-minute cancellations, is a familiar joy of most major travel hubs. Here, it’s the Saturday before the Fourth of July, a summer storm has wreaked havoc on flight schedules, and many of the book’s young Asian protagonists, who all seem to be around 12, are enduring run-ins with extremely jerky strangers.

In the opening story, by Christina Soontornvat, Paul is in the security line with his parents, grandmother and 3-year-old sister, early for a 31-hour trip to see relatives in Bangkok. (“We are at the airport, the place you go to wait in line for more waiting. ”) A blond woman wearing a pink sweater is in a hurry. “Just our luck that we’d get stuck behind these people ,” she grumbles audibly to her son . “They slow everything down.” To Paul’s frustration, his family does end up slowing everything down: Grandma is traveling with her late husband’s ashes in a coffee can, “Big Lebowski” style, and a routine T.S.A. check prompts a tense, if brief, standoff.

Pink Lady, as Paul calls the white woman, blows a gasket, but the bigger problem is that Paul’s sister wanders off amid the confusion. The T.S.A. squabble and the search for the lost girl become reference points that help connect the disparate narratives in this fine collection, as do a couple of other incidents in later stories: A boy gets his finger stuck in a chair (in a winning story by Susan Tan written entirely in numbered lists) and a pair of dopey security guards corner a kid about his guitar case (in a story by Mike Chen). These crises all turn out to be pretty minor. But in an airport packed with skittish, irritable travelers, even the slightest jangle can quickly amplify into trouble.

The first several stories fall into a predictable rhythm. We start to anticipate the Moment: the racist aggression (micro or macro, well-intentioned or ill-willed) that will set off the principal character’s anger or despair. Often there’s more than one woven into a story: the inadvertent gaffe or borderline offense and then the flagrant foul meant to stop readers in their tracks.

“Those illegals. They bring kids who aren’t related and make them pretend to be siblings.” “Well, their parents don’t know any better. … Cultural differences and all that.” “I don’t know how they do things where you come from, but this is a professional establishment. We do not bring children to work with us.” “Hopefully they go back to their own country and stay there.” “Kung Flu.”

Lines like these land a little clumsily at first. They seem cartoonishly improbable when encountered in fiction — up until someone in real life, like, say, a United States president, utters one on national television, or a smartly dressed woman in a Manhattan park tells your toddler that she loves her “chinky eyes.”

It happens, and it wears you out. The real struggle comes later: the absurd feeling that it’s something you must have instigated, something you must get over. The characters in “You Are Here” contend persistently with this one-two punch, further confounded by cultural expectations, peer pressure and adolescent insecurities.

In a story by Meredith Ireland, Mindy, a Korean adoptee, is traveling with her two white fathers, who are taking her to Seoul so she can reconnect with her “roots.” She can’t bring herself to tell them that she doesn’t want to go, and after a xenophobic insult flies her way at the airport, she hates that she stays quiet. “Why hadn’t I been able to say something?” she asks herself. “ Ugh. I am not the stand-up-to-things type. I can’t even tell my own dads how I feel.” Her dads, at least, are very vocal and want her to be, too. The parents of some of the other narrators are less supportive.

Jane’s mother, in a story by Grace Lin, snaps at her daughters to ignore provocations: “Don’t get involved in other people’s problems.” Another character, in a story by Ellen Oh, seethes when confronted with bigotry but can’t mutter a word without Mom shutting her up. “‘Soojin,’ her mother admonished. Unspoken was the demand: Don’t make a scene. Don’t bring undue attention. Don’t cause trouble. ”

Pushed beyond reason, the main characters have every right to make a scene. But what the authors also poignantly show is that the very cultures under attack in these stories teach their children to bear adversity in silence. To stand up for your heritage, it seems to many young Asian Americans, is to betray it.

These internal conflicts over self-expression make for far richer story prompts than the racist idiocy of villainous white people. Khoi, in a very funny piece by Minh Lê, nervously thumbs through his phrase book in preparation for his first trip to Vietnam, then falls asleep and dreams about all the ways he’ll humiliate himself if he attempts even a few words. Natalie, the Japanese protagonist of one of the book’s strongest stories (by Traci Chee), faces perhaps the thorniest dilemma: What do you do when the racist idiocy is coming from your own best friend, who is flying you on a cross-country vacation?

“You Are Here” — which also includes stories by Randy Ribay, Mike Jung, Erin Entrada Kelly and Linda Sue Park (whose imprint the book launches), and is adroitly edited by Oh — works as a linked collection because one character’s crisis becomes another’s teachable moment. As these young people observe the problems of others, they see themselves in their peers and gain the confidence to address problems of their own. To the reader’s satisfaction, many of them finally do find their voices, and while Pink Lady may not be the most receptive to their efforts, others, like Natalie’s friend, are. They remind us that a more functional, less ailing America requires not just the courage to speak but the courage to listen.

Dave Kim is an editor at the Book Review.

YOU ARE HERE: Connecting Flights | Edited by Ellen Oh | 265 pp. | Allida/HarperCollins Publishers | $18.99 | Ages 8 to 12

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YOU ARE HERE

by Zach Manbeck ; illustrated by Zach Manbeck ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 10, 2022

An uplifting ode to the power of taking small steps to make big changes.

Manbeck offers direction for life’s journeys in his children’s book debut.

Using just one or two pithy sentences per page, the text encourages readers to bravely forge their own paths in the world. Whatever one hopes to accomplish or whatever one’s destination in life, the starting point is “here,” a point of view that suggests that there is power and wisdom in embracing the present moment. Manbeck assures readers that “you can go anywhere!” and includes all-caps imperatives on almost every double-page spread: “Begin”; “Take your time”; “Keep going”; “Be patient”; etc. A major thrust of the narrative is the futility of comparing oneself to others since every person is unique and there is no one-size-fits-all formula for how life should unfold. The whimsical illustrations, rendered in gouache and mixed media with digital editing, show sprightly children and their childlike anthropomorphic animal companions romping on giant fantastical play structures that recall Rube Goldberg machines. Some spreads feature a montage of the characters adventurously exploring a range of fun activities: butterfly watching, rollerblading, riding a penny-farthing, etc. Flowers and butterflies—with their associated meanings of transformation, hope, courage, success, and new beginnings—are used liberally as motifs throughout the colorful artwork. The characters have various skin tones, and one of them uses a wheelchair. Many wear party hats, conveying a mood of celebration; indeed, this book would make a good baby-shower or graduation gift.

Pub Date: May 10, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-79721-010-0

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022

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New York Times Bestseller

by R.J. Palacio ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2012

A memorable story of kindness, courage and wonder.

After being home-schooled for years, Auggie Pullman is about to start fifth grade, but he’s worried: How will he fit into middle school life when he looks so different from everyone else?

Auggie has had 27 surgeries to correct facial anomalies he was born with, but he still has a face that has earned him such cruel nicknames as Freak, Freddy Krueger, Gross-out and Lizard face. Though “his features look like they’ve been melted, like the drippings on a candle” and he’s used to people averting their eyes when they see him, he’s an engaging boy who feels pretty ordinary inside. He’s smart, funny, kind and brave, but his father says that having Auggie attend Beecher Prep would be like sending “a lamb to the slaughter.” Palacio divides the novel into eight parts, interspersing Auggie’s first-person narrative with the voices of family members and classmates, wisely expanding the story beyond Auggie’s viewpoint and demonstrating that Auggie’s arrival at school doesn’t test only him, it affects everyone in the community. Auggie may be finding his place in the world, but that world must find a way to make room for him, too.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-375-86902-0

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2011

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

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Kindness and ‘Wonder’

TILDA TRIES AGAIN

From the big bright feelings series.

by Tom Percival ; illustrated by Tom Percival ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2022

An accessible entrance into the world of social-emotional skills.

What do you do when the world turns upside down?

Freckled redhead Tilda is a happy only child with a rollicking personality. With lots of books and toys and a multiracial group of friends, life is perfect as far as she’s concerned…until her world undergoes a troubling change (a subtle hint in the illustrations suggests that Tilda’s parents have divorced). Suddenly, nothing feels right, everything seems hard, and she doesn’t want to play with her friends. To reflect this emotional disorientation, the artwork shows Tilda in spatially distorted settings, complete with upside-down objects. It’s not until she sees an upturned ladybug struggle persistently before getting back on its feet (despite Tilda’s desire to help, the ladybug needs to help itself) that Tilda gains the courage to start taking baby steps in order to cope with her new reality. There are still challenges, and she needs to persevere, but eventually, she regains her zest for life and reconnects with her friends. Despite this, the ending avoids an easy happily-ever-after, which feels just right for the subject matter. Though a trifle didactic, the story sends an important message about the roles of self-efficacy and persistence when it comes to overcoming challenges and building resilience. Percival’s digital illustrations use transitions from grayscale to color to create symbolic meaning and have psychological depth, deftly capturing a child’s experience of trauma.

Pub Date: March 1, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-5476-0822-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022

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book review you are here

You Are Here: Keywords for Life Explorers

Part roadmap for orientating to life and part dictionary of important spiritual terms, Br. David’s newest book, You Are Here, is the magnum opus of one of our most important living spiritual teachers.

Est. reading time: 1 minutes.

Book cover of You Are Here: Keywords for Life Explorers by Br. David Steindl-Rast (2023)

The challenge before us is this: to treasure and preserve the in dependence given to us and learn to integrate it in an all-embracing inter dependence. Br. David Steindl-Rast, You Are Here: Keywords for Life Explorers

Book cover of You Are Here: Keywords for Life Explorers by Br. David Steindl-Rast (2023)

Part roadmap for orientating to life and part dictionary of important spiritual terms, Br. David Steindl-Rast ‘s newest book, You Are Here , is the magnum opus of one of our most important living spiritual teachers.

This important work offers clear definitions of Br. David’s key spiritual terms, each contextualized in an inclusive, accessible roadmap for living a full and meaningful life. It is ideal for those new to Br. David’s teachings as well as longtime devotees of his work.

Described by Br. David as his “spiritual legacy” and unlike any book he’s written before, You Are Here offers invauluable spiritual direction from a unique perspective in history. At 96 years old, Br. David has counted Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Thomas Merton, H. H. the Dalai Lama, and Thomas Keating as friends and teachers. He has learned much, and offers it here.

Learn more about You Are Here in the excerpt below from an interview between Joe Primo, CEO of Grateful Living, and Br. David Steindl-Rast, founder of Grateful Living:

Praise for Brother David:

“Hugely inspiring and helpful.” —Jon Kabat-Zinn

“With mystic vision and poetic clarity, Brother David opens us to the eternal vision behind the creed.” —Jack Kornfield

“I love Brother Steindl-Rast, and all of his work. He is right up there for me with C. S. Lewis, Denise Levertov, and the great Frederick Buechner.” —Anne Lamott

“David Steindl-Rast is one of our Living Spiritual Teachers. In fact, he is probably the elder of this venerable group among those still actively teaching.” —SpiritualityandPractice.com

Discover more of Br. David’s books here .

Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB

Br. David Steindl-Rast, OSB

About the author.

Brother David Steindl-Rast — author, scholar, and Benedictine monk — is beloved the world over for his enduring message about gratefulness as the true source of lasting happiness. Known to many as the “grandfather of gratitude,” Br. David has been a source of inspiration and spiritual friendship to countless leaders and luminaries around the world including Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton, and more. He has been one of the most important figures in the modern interfaith dialogue movement, and has taught with thought-leaders such as Eckhart Tolle, Jack Kornfield, and Roshi Joan Halifax. His wisdom has been featured in recent interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Krista Tippett, and Tami Simon and his TED talk has been viewed almost 10,000,000 times. Learn more about Br. David here .

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Jo Piazza

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We Are Not Like Them: A Novel

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We Are Not Like Them: A Novel Hardcover – October 5, 2021

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  • Print length 336 pages
  • Language English
  • Publisher Atria Books
  • Publication date October 5, 2021
  • Dimensions 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
  • ISBN-10 1982181036
  • ISBN-13 978-1982181031
  • See all details

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  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria Books (October 5, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982181036
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982181031
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
  • #3,764 in Black & African American Women's Fiction (Books)
  • #5,893 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction
  • #15,728 in Literary Fiction (Books)

About the authors

Jo Piazza is a bestselling author, podcast creator and award-winning journalist.

Jo is the national and international bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance, We Are Not Like Them, You Were Always Mine, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, The Knockoff and How to Be Married. Her work has been published in ten languages in twelve countries and four of her books have been optioned for film and television. Jo's podcasts have garnered more than twenty-five million downloads and regularly top podcast charts. An editor, columnist and travel writer, her work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, New York magazine, Marie Claire, Glamour and many other publications. She lives in Philly with her husband, Nick Aster and three feral children.

Christine Pride

Christine Pride is a writer, editor and 20-year publishing veteran. She has held editorial posts at various imprints, including Doubleday, Broadway, Crown, Hyperion, and, most recently, as a Senior Editor at Simon and Schuster. In her publishing career, Christine edited and published a range of bestselling books. Her first work, as a novelist, was the Good Morning America Book Club Pick, We Are Not Like Them, written with Jo Piazza. She teamed up with Jo again for their sophomore effort, You Were Always Mine. She splits her time between New York City and Los Angeles. You can follow her on Instagram at @cpride.

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    At one point, forced to eat alone in a romantic hotel, his "face set in the expression of someone who has tripped on a paving stone but is incorporating it into their walk". Marnie, meanwhile ...

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    YOU ARE HERE. A relatable and satisfyingly realistic love story to cure any lingering lockdown blues. Two solitary adults take the plunge into postpandemic socialization to quell their growing discomfort from loneliness. Marnie Walsh, a 38-year-old London copy editor, embraces the fact that she has more control over her time than her friends ...

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    Thich Nhat Hanh, Sherab Chödzin Kohn (Translator) 4.29. 10,592 ratings698 reviews. In this book Thich Nhat Hanh, the renowned Zen monk, author, and meditation master, distills the essence of Buddhist thought and practice, emphasizing the power of mindfulness to transform our lives. "Mindfulness is not an evasion or an escape," he explains.

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    A hilarious, hopeful, and heartwarming love story—the novel belovedNew York Times bestselling author David Nicholls calls "my funniest book yet"—You Are Here is a bittersweet and hopeful story of first encounters, second chances, and finding the way home. Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and ...

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    A disappointing novel from a much-praised writer. bookshelf. shop now. This debut novel offers a group portrait of people in upstate New York trying to figure out how to build new lives. Every day after school, Jackson Huang joins his mom, Tina, at Sunshine Clips in Greenways Mall. She tends to the needs of a dwindling roster of clients.

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    You Are Here is packed full of themes and topics. Perhaps too full, and for me, it causes the story to feel heavy, weighed-down and slow. It was a lot to cover and the longest 8 1/2 hours I've spent listening to an audiobook in a good long time. The audiobook of You Are Here is narrated by Jennifer Aquino. Her narration overall felt stilted and ...

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    This remarkable anthology offers a warm and heartfelt reassurance to all those who recognize themselves reflected in its pages: You are seen, and you do belong. Compelling and nuanced. (editor's note, meet the authors) (Fiction. 8-12) 3. Pub Date: March 7, 2023. ISBN: 978--06-323908-1.

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    Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie ...

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    Here, it's the Saturday before the Fourth of July, a summer storm has wreaked havoc on flight schedules, and many of the book's young Asian protagonists, who all seem to be around 12, are ...

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    Book review: You Are Here by David Nicholls. From Nine To Noon, 10:35 am on 3 May 2024. Share this.

  18. YOU ARE HERE

    The characters have various skin tones, and one of them uses a wheelchair. Many wear party hats, conveying a mood of celebration; indeed, this book would make a good baby-shower or graduation gift. An uplifting ode to the power of taking small steps to make big changes. (Gift book. 0-5, adult) 0. Pub Date: May 10, 2022.

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    Buy Book. The latest addition to what might be termed mall literature is Karin Lin-Greenberg's "You Are Here," a charming debut novel in which—initially at least—nothing too disturbing ...

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    The Remains of the Day crossed with Michael Winterbottom's The Trip, only with more Gore-Tex . . . You Are Here is a triumph, a real gift of a novel, and it deserves to join One Day on the bestseller charts immediately -- Johanna Thomas-Corr ― Sunday Times A great comic novel. . .The reader becomes so invested in the outcome of this unspectacular, everyday, cagoule-clad romance that it makes ...

  21. You Are Here: Lin-Greenberg, Karin: 9781640095434: Amazon.com: Books

    Amazon, A Best Book of the Year Oprah Daily, A Best Book of the Year Elle, A Best New Book of the Summer Library Journal, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year Zibby's Mag, A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 Goodreads, A Buzziest Debut Novel of the Year "Lin-Greenberg's web of characters illustrate the complex lives of ordinary people." —Laura Zornosa, Time "Like Elizabeth Strout's Olive ...

  22. Book Review: You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized

    Based on: Phillips Whitney and Milner Ryan, You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2021; 280 pp.; ISBN 9780262539913, $22.95 (pbk)

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  24. You Are Here: Keywords for Life Explorers

    The challenge before us is this: to treasure and preserve the independence given to us and learn to integrate it in an all-embracing interdependence.. Br. David Steindl-Rast, You Are Here: Keywords for Life Explorers Part roadmap for orientating to life and part dictionary of important spiritual terms, Br. David Steindl-Rast's newest book, You Are Here, is the magnum opus of one of our most ...

  25. You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World

    Edited and introduced by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, Ada Limón, this book challenges what we think we know about "nature poetry," illuminating the myriad ways our landscapes—both literal and literary—are changing. You Are Here features fifty previously unpublished poems from some of the nation's most ...

  26. We Are Not Like Them: A Novel

    Beautifully heartfelt, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza's book finds hope in the friends' love for one another, that with understanding there may be a way forward." "We are Not Like Them, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza's gripping novel, is a powerful story about friendship, race, love, forgiveness, and justice—and the stunning ways they intersect.

  27. You Are Here: Keywords for Life Explorers

    16 ratings2 reviews. The magnum opus of one of our most important living Catholic authors--a giant in the field of interfaith relationships, Christian contemplative life, and spiritual writing, Brother David Steindl-Rast offers spiritual direction from a unique perspective in history. At 96, he has counted Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Thomas Merton, H ...