"Connie is late for flights, whereas I like to be there the requisite two hours before departure," notes Doug, amid a long riff on their differences, although, as he is privileged to be the book's only narrator, we are only ever getting his view of her. Whereas One Day mismatched a serious-minded woman with a hedonistic and libidinous man, Us reverses the polarities. Inevitably, Doug, in the manner of an electioneering politician announcing that voters have four weeks to save the NHS, treats the holiday as a campaign to sway his wife's mind. Luckily, continuing the way in which Nicholls' characters often have one eye on psychological plausibility and the other on narrative possibility, Connie agrees that the trip will go ahead anyway, with an announcement of her decision on divorce delivered (like Ant & Dec opening an envelope) when they get back. This is bad news for Douglas – not only because he still loves Connie madly, but because they have recently booked an expensive grand tour of Europe as a final family holiday before Albie, their 18-year-old son, goes to college. One night, Douglas Petersen, a 54-year-old industrial biochemist, is woken by his art gallerist wife of almost a quarter of a century, Connie, and informed that she thinks their marriage may be over. Us, for which readers and booksellers have waited with growing impatience in the five years since One Day, puts another couple to the test.
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