
I'd enjoyed his two previous novels and may well have been the first person to buy One Day. And I liked it a lot. And its big incident caught me completely unawares, unlike those who read it later when the spoilers were rife, not forgetting the film where impending tragedy is announced in the opening scenes, (and no I don't mean Anne Hathaway's rather charming tour of northern accents).
But I wanted to write a novel that answered the question - what if they'd been together all that time, from university onwards, and then one of them died? What then? So to say I'm humbled by this lovely Amazon review is an understatement.
"This is the book One Day can only aspire to emulate. Where Farewell Trip blows One Day out of the water is in the sense of emotional truth, in the way difficult subjects are not shied away from, but faced head on with humour and poignancy. Yes, this is a book where the hero is dead before it begins, and we journey with both his and Ruth's grief at his untimely death, but despite requiring three lots of tissues, it is never maudlin or sentimental. The writers have such a sure touch - they never let the reader down. You feel all the time that you are in safe hands, being drawn through a story that is moving and funny, romantic and realistic." Ally Kessler
You can buy it here, (Farewell Trip that is, not One Day).