Jun 17, 2024 • 3 min read
Walking Across Northern England With ‘One Day’ Author, David Nicholls
30.05.2024 - 01:11 / forbes.com
David Nicholls has been one of my favorite authors since I sobbed through One Day, which was recently made into a #1 tearjerker of a Netflix series. His new novel, You Are Here, takes a completely different turn and, in fact, Nicholls himself calls it “my funniest book yet.”
As a reader, I was engrossed. As a travel writer, I was intrigued by the Coast to Coast Walk, a 16 day, 192 mile hike through the English countryside that I had never heard of before. I studied the maps that accompanied each chapter and read more about the route and its history after following the book’s characters, Marnie and Michael, as they make their way across England, finding themselves and each other along the way.
I reached out to Nicholls to learn more about the famous walk that provides the framework for a page-turning novel with as many twists and turns as the trail itself.
Here’s what he had to say:
First, congratulations on another great book. I felt like I was really on the journey with Marnie and Michael and I could envision all the places and landscapes they were experiencing. To me, that’s the sign of a very special book – it’s so vivid, it totally takes you away and makes you forget you’re actually just sitting in your house. That’s something your books do brilliantly. Plus, as someone whose husband walked the Camino de Santiago three times, it made me feel like I had accomplished a walk without having to exert myself so thank you for that.
Thank you! That’s very generous and hugely appreciated.
Why did you choose to set this story around 1) a walk and 2) specifically the Coast to Coast Walk?
A walk is a kind of story, I think. A structure, different acts, literal twists and turns and changes in pace. A long walk, in particular, has dynamics, a forward momentum and motivation, a destination that may not be the one intended. I loved the idea of the terrain and weather reflecting the mood, and the Coast to Coast fits the brief perfectly: the right length for the story, a variety of terrain, a clearly defined beginning and end and even a three-act structure - the Lakes, the Dales, the Moors - that matches the mood. There’s a symbolism to the C2C, a very clear beginning and end, like a belt across England, and a mythology and set of traditions too; the pebble that you carry across, the ritual of dipping your boot in both seas. It’s the perfect setting - epic, varied, often beautiful, sometimes grim but always at the right time in the story.
Are you a walker yourself?
I wasn’t growing up and certainly not in my twenties. In my thirties, I’d go on walking holidays with my children until they rebelled and refused to leave the city, so now I walk alone - a revelation! I don’t have to worry about weather or the
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