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Where to find meaning when you get lost? On a hike! Marnie had never envisioned a future where she would be lonely. Now, at thirty-eight, she's a divorced freelance editor and spends her days at home proofreading manuscripts while her friends have married and moved away. Talking to household objects or aimlessly browsing social media, Marnie begins to realise that if she doesn't do something, the loneliness trap will close for good. He forces himself out of his hermit hole and accepts an invitation to hike the legendary Lake District. Among the expedition participants, he meets Michael, a reclusive geography teacher a few years older, recovering from a failed marriage and the consequences of random street violence. The pilgrimage provides Marnie and Michael with an opportunity for conversations that begin with banter and deepen into the revelation of the wounds they have both suffered. Yes, bad things happen - even in this story people die - but there's also the beautiful English countryside, cosy pubs and travellers sniffing through the mud who still have the courage to fall in love. With its atmosphere and humour, the story follows the author's famous novel One Day. "Brilliant. Another classic and funny love story." - Matt Haig, writer "No one has ever described a love relationship in such detail." - The Observer "Nicholls has an extraordinary ability to capture the absurdity of modern life in apt detail." - The Guardian "This way!" he bellowed, pointing into the same grey, but only a series of other natural tricky things awaited them. The mountain they climbed was crowned by a plain. The trail here was underwater, so they had to jump from islet to islet made up of red spiked pedal boats; they were treacherous formations like on Mars, and often there were no islands, so that their feet sank again into the mud, which quickly overtopped the top of the shoe, causing a new volley of abuse. "Shove those nature documentaries up your ass!" "What?" "I don't like it here. People don't belong here at all." She sniffled, audibly sniffling in her own shoes as they skipped the imaginary shot, her teeth clicking like the plastic fake teeth you can buy in joke shops. Her eyes kept drilling his back, but she remained silent. She'd seen this movie before, the story where a nervous city greenhorn is guided through initiation by a tough, taciturn adventurer and made to appreciate the simple approach to things that initially repulsed the townsman. But what the hell. She rejects this cliché and shows that she is as toughened, capable and skilful as he is, which is exactly what happened in the film. - excerpt from the book