You Are Here

by David Nicholls ★★★★★

Marnie is thirty-eight, living alone in London, six years removed from a bad marriage and divorce, and finally able to admit to herself she's lonely. But she's found it's easier to lock herself away in her flat, and she's become more and more reclusive as the years have passed. "Sometimes, she thought, it's easier to remain lonely than present the lonely person to the world, but she knew that this, too, was a trap, that unless she did something, the state might become permanent, like a stain soaking into wood."

Michael is forty-two, a geography teacher, nine months into a separation from his wife and on the cusp of a divorce, while still dealing with the psychological scars from a traumatic incident years prior. Where Marnie chooses to wallow in her loneliness indoors, Michael does not, instead choosing to battle the emptiness of his home by embarking on extensive hikes. "At home he was merely lonely. Stepping outside transformed loneliness to solitude, a far more dignified state because it was his choice."

When his friend (and boss) Cleo pressures him into allowing her and her family (and a few friends) to join him on a hike after the Easter holiday, Michael reluctantly relents. He charts a course that will traverse England from west to east, following "the famous route devised by Alfred Wainwright, 190 miles usually covered in twelve or thirteen days." Cleo and company will join for the first few days, and Michael will be blessedly back to being alone for the last 75% of the hike. "For Cleo, the solution to a problem lay in the presence of other people, while Michael depended on their absence, and while the kindness of a friend was a precious and touching thing, it could also feel like an imposition."

The hiking band is set: "four single people, a married couple, a teenager."...except the best laid plans often go awry, and this hike across England is no different. Cleo's husband Sam falls ill just before the trip, and her outdoorsy friend Tessa (who she had eyed up as a potential match for Michael) also has to bail, leaving just Cleo and her thirteen-year-old son, Marnie and intended match Conrad, and Michael. The hike commences, as does the tale of how Michael and Marnie start to be drawn to each other.

You Are Here is sweet and a little quirky, with a distinctly British pitter-patter of prose, interspersed with quick-witted cheeky humor. Marnie leads the way in the comedy department, using bad jokes and impressions to cover up her discomfort, and while she's awkward, she's also legitimately funny. Michael's more reserved, but the connection they forge is refreshing in its believability, including its imperfections. This is not a rom-com, meet-cute story; instead, these are two people who had descended to a place where they'd mostly given up hope of finding someone they could love, and they slowly start to climb out of that hole through their authentic attraction to each other. It's an enjoyable romp across England, and a relationship journey that's a pleasure to observe.