Rory Dunlop

David Nicholls’ Us: Alan Partridge’s Grand Tour

A review of Us, by David Nicholls. The novel’s comedy is the secret of its success

Us, David Nicholls’s first novel since the hugely successful One Day, is about a couple who have been married for 20 years. Douglas Petersen, the anally retentive middle-aged narrator, never feels like an equal to Connie, his attractive and witty wife. On the opening page, Connie tells him that she thinks she wants to leave him when their son Albie goes off to university.

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