Literary Affairs – Books & Bathrobes Events with author Nick Hornby
About Just Like You
This warm, wise, highly entertaining twenty-first century love story is about what happens when the person who makes you happiest is someone you never expected.
Lucy used to handle her adult romantic life according to the script she’d been handed. She met a guy just like herself: same age, same background, same hopes and dreams; they got married and started a family. Too bad he made her miserable. Now, two decades later, she’s a nearly-divorced, forty-one-year-old schoolteacher with two school-aged sons, and there is no script anymore. So when she meets Joseph, she isn’t exactly looking for love–she’s more in the market for a babysitter. Joseph is twenty-two, living at home with his mother, and working several jobs, including the butcher counter where he and Lucy meet. It’s not a match anyone one could have predicted. He’s of a different class, a different culture, and a different generation. But sometimes it turns out that the person who can make you happiest is the one you least expect, though it can take some maneuvering to see it through.
Just Like You is a brilliantly observed, tender, but also brutally funny new novel that gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person–someone you didn’t see coming.
Just Like You Reviews
‘Love blossoms between a young black man and a middle-aged white mother in Hornby’s assured, if cosy, new novel l Just Like You’. The Guardian
“…the novel gallops straight into something that is immensely readable, sharp-eyed and at times hilarious…” The Guardian
“…the true delight of a Hornby novel lies in his extraordinarily acute social observation, and in the sheer brilliance of exchanges that sing, zing and capture every nuance of real speech. The book seems almost TV-ready, as page after page of breathtakingly recognisable dialogue is laid out like a screenplay…” The Guardian
“Has the world ever needed a Nick Hornby book more than it does today? ..”Just Like You,” an endearing love story that defies convention. Set in London as Britons vote on whether or not to leave the European Union, the novel is a breezy read, grounded in just enough realism to make it all feel, well, real”. Newsday
“Nick Hornby’s brilliantly observed, tender but also brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person – someone who is not just like you at all.” Amazon
‘Just Like You is Nick Hornby’s Brexit parable. An unlikely north London romance suggests that love can overcome tribalism’ Financial Times
‘A charming – and sharp – love story about what it means to fall for someone who is your polar opposite’ Sunday Telegraph
“Hornby covers the issues of the day with snappy take-no prisoners commentary. . . As these scenes build toward a surprising, well-earned ending, Hornby continues to ask: Should we choose someone just like us, or take a risk?” The Boston Globe
“With all the staples of a classic Hornby tale—humor, heart and emotion—Just Like You is the unexpected love story you need to read right now.” E! News
“His most surprising courtship yet.” Entertainment Weekly
“A sweet and funny testament to the wonderful things that happen when you allow yourself to follow your heart.” Real Simple
“This bighearted book is all about the beautiful unpredictability of love.” PopSugar
“Sparkles with tip-top dialogue and pin-sharp comic timing.” The Daily Mail
“Frequently funny, consistently engaging … it has great warmth in its heart.” The Observer
“This is in every regard a Nick Hornby novel—funny, precise, clever, and pointed—but it adds the element of surprise and the great charm of being a love story perfectly attuned to the strange days we’re currently inhabiting.” Vogue
“Another unputdownable story of love and heartbreak.” Harper’s Bazaar
“In this age of lockdowns and social distancing, the novel asks timely questions about how people manage to connect when confronted with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Sometimes, this brutally funny novel suggests, the perfect match might be the person who’s utterly unlike you.” The Millions
“Effervescent with chemistry and quick dialogue.” Booklist
“A hopeful balm for our unsettled post-pandemic times.” Library Journal, STARRED review
“Hornby lives up to his reputation as bard of the everyday in this thoughtful romance that crosses lines of race, age, and class…Hornby is good company on the page and offers insights on his characters with aplomb, demonstrating an investment in each of their voices and an interest in the forces that draw people to one another. This is great fun.” Publishers Weekly
“Hornby is as charming as ever in this nimble, optimistic take on the social novel.” Kirkus Review
The maddening thing about Nick Hornby’s writing is that it is so perceptive, it reads like something you could’ve sworn you’ve thought of at some point.. USA Today
“Astute and emotionally involving, this is a bittersweet tale about opposites attracting, then trying to stay together”. Star Tribune
“Age, race and class are all barriers to be jumped over by the lovers in Nick Hornby’s acutely observed and tender novel”. The Scotsman
