Nick Hornby may not write in the romance genre, but he writes some darned good love stories. Whether it’s romantic love, love of friends, family or music, Nick Hornby novels hit right to the heart of the matter. Take the opening lines of his nonfiction memoir, Fever Pitch (twice adapted for the big screen, with the British version starring Colin Firth): "I fell in love with football the way I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.” Does Nick Hornby understand the ups and downs of love? Read on.
Four complete strangers all convene on the roof of London’s tallest building on New Year’s Eve to commit suicide, but find it’s A Long Way Down when they learn that there’s still a lot of love in the world: Martin’s affair with an underage girl ruined his career as a television journalist as well as his first marriage, and he’s not entirely sure about his current girlfriend. Maureen, wholly devoted to her comatose son, would love to find some joy in life, but doesn’t know where to look. Teenage Jess goes through adolescent angst like a rocket powered rollercoaster, while JJ’s misery over losing both his band and his girlfriend threatens to eat him alive daily. Alone, each one of them would have ended their lives, but together, they can find a reason to go on.
Told in revolving first person, we learn each character’s story, as well as the story of the unconventional family they form. Though the happily ever afters in this book are more of the individual sort—Martin even lampshades this and mentions it would be a great story if he and Maureen fell in love, but that it doesn’t happen—romance fans will find the bonds that bind Martin, Maureen, Jess and JJ equals the warmth of families from many favorite romance series. Since the movie is now in pre-production, might one of the romances gone wrong in this story turn out happily ever after on the big screen?
Will Freeman, the hero of About A Boy, adapted into the Hugh Grant movie of the same name, is a twenty-first century rake. Independently wealthy and unrepentantly idle, Will lives only for his own pleasure. After a brief but intense affair with a single mother, Will decides that single mothers are the perfect girlfriends, and discovers fertile hunting grounds in a support group, Single Parents Alone Together. He goes to extremes to create a fake son (and fake ex-wife, who gains custody at a convenient moment) so he can join the group.
At first, it works like a charm. Women are touched by his paternal devotion and want to heal his broken heart. One even invites him to come to the group’s picnic. She brings along Marcus, the awkward, musically-minded tweenage son of another member, Fiona, who decides at the last moment that she can’t attend. Will brings his A-game to the picnic, even posing as Marcus’s father when Marcus runs afoul of a park official, but the day soon takes a different turn. Fiona has attempted suicide, and Will must wait with Marcus while his date gets Fiona settled at the hospital.
Marcus adopts Will as a father figure, attempting to set him up with Fiona (which doesn’t work) and seeking Will’s advice on how to deal with bullies, his very first girlfriend and the death of his idol, Kurt Cobain. When Will finds he’s falling in love with the mother of Marcus’ bully, his cover is blown, and he has to do some fast growing up himself if he doesn’t want to end up the way he started—alone.
Though Juliet, Naked begins with longtime partners Duncan and Annie on holiday together, that’s not the real love story. Duncan and Annie sort of drifted together because they were the same age and in the same town and it wasn’t horrible. Here they are, nearly twenty years later. No rings, no kids, and Duncan’s great passion isn’t for Annie, but Tucker Crowe, a now-reclusive singer-songwriter. After one megahit record in the 1980s, the iconic breakup album, Juliet, Tucker disappeared, leaving fans to endlessly speculate as to why.
Annie yearns for such passion in her own life, and when an advance review copy of a new acoustic Tucker Crowe album, Juliet, Naked, arrives at the house, a jealous Annie listens to it first. Duncan’s not cool with that, or with the fact that her opinion of the album is completely opposite of his. When Annie posts her review on Duncan’s website, she receives a personal reply from Tucker himself. Duncan retaliates with a fling, and Annie pours it all out to her new email buddy.
Impressed by Annie’s honesty, Tucker responds in kind, telling Annie exactly what he’s been up to since he dropped out of sight. Now a single father after a series of failed relationships, Tucker finds a kindred soul in Annie, and when an adult daughter he barely knows summons Tucker across the pond, six year old son in tow, the two arrange to meet. Duncan may be ready to get back into Annie’s good graces, but now that she’s falling for his idol, things are going to get complicated.
The course of true love never does run smooth in Nick Hornby’s world, but whether that course leads to a true happily ever after, or merely a tolerable one, there’s an enduring optimism that lingers long after the final page is turned.
Anna C. Bowling considers writing historical romance the best way to travel through time and make the voices in her head pay rent. She welcomes visitors to her blog, Typing with Wet Nails and to follow her at Twitter.
