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The History Of Us
Liverpool 1985
Kathleen, Adam and Jocelyn are three teenage friends who bond over an unconventional nativity play. They all have ambitions, they all have dreams.
Adam wants to be a writer, Jocelyn wants to sing and Kathleen - well, she wants to be an embalmer.
London 2015
Kathleen is a borderline alcoholic, Adam is holding on to a shocking secret and Jocelyn is dead. Where did it all go wrong? How did having the world at their feet turn into having the weight of it on their shoulders?
Kathleen, Adam and Jocelyn are three teenage friends who bond over an unconventional nativity play. They all have ambitions, they all have dreams.
Adam wants to be a writer, Jocelyn wants to sing and Kathleen - well, she wants to be an embalmer.
London 2015
Kathleen is a borderline alcoholic, Adam is holding on to a shocking secret and Jocelyn is dead. Where did it all go wrong? How did having the world at their feet turn into having the weight of it on their shoulders?
- GenresFictionContemporaryLGBT
400 pages, Paperback
Published September 8, 2016
21 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Harvey
80 books77 followersHarvey was born in Liverpool in 1968. He has a brother, Timothy Harvey who is a music teacher in Chester. His first serious attempt as a playwright was in 1987. Fuelled by the attraction of a £1,000 first prize to young writers from the Liverpool Playhouse, the result was The Cherry Blossom Tree, a garish blend of suicide, murder and nuns. This effort won him the National Girobank Young Writer of the Year Award.
Feeling very encouraged, he went on to write Mohair (1988), Wildfire (1992) and Babies (1993), the latter winning him the 'George Devine Award' for that year and The Evening Standard's 'Most Promising Playwright Award' for 1994. In 1993, Harvey, premiered Beautiful Thing, a gay-themed play-turned-movie for which he won the prestigious 'John Whiting Award' the following year.
1995 saw the premiere of Boom Bang-a-Bang, at the Bush Theatre, London, originally directed by Kathy Burke. Harvey cites it as "my most comic play ever, but with some dark bits". Centred on a group of friends gathering to watch the Eurovision Song Contest, the play was a sell-out. That same year, he also premiered Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club. Guiding Star (1998), is a portrayal of one man's struggle to come to terms with the Hillsborough FA Cup Semi-Final disaster, while Hushabye Mountain (1999) deals with a world that has learned to live with HIV/AIDS. Television and film works include: West End Girls (Carlton); Love Junkie (BBC); Beautiful Thing (Channel Four/Island World Productions); the 1999-2001 hit/cult comedy series starring Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus, Gimme Gimme Gimme (Tiger Aspect); Murder Most Horrid (BBC); and Coronation Street (ITV).
He also wrote the book for Closer to Heaven, a stage musical with songs and music written by Pet Shop Boys. Closer to Heaven ran for nine months at the Arts Theatre in London during 2001 and in Australia in 2005. In 2003 Harvey heard the singer-actress Abi Roberts perform and was so enchanted he offered to write a solo show especially for her. Taking Charlie was the outcome, staged at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival with Roberts starring, under the direction of Susan Tully. The piece was darkly comic and focused on the destructive nature of an insecure, 30-year-old addict.
Harvey is a patron of London-based HIV charity The Food Chain and a patron of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. His first novel All She Wants was published in 2012 by Pan Books
Feeling very encouraged, he went on to write Mohair (1988), Wildfire (1992) and Babies (1993), the latter winning him the 'George Devine Award' for that year and The Evening Standard's 'Most Promising Playwright Award' for 1994. In 1993, Harvey, premiered Beautiful Thing, a gay-themed play-turned-movie for which he won the prestigious 'John Whiting Award' the following year.
1995 saw the premiere of Boom Bang-a-Bang, at the Bush Theatre, London, originally directed by Kathy Burke. Harvey cites it as "my most comic play ever, but with some dark bits". Centred on a group of friends gathering to watch the Eurovision Song Contest, the play was a sell-out. That same year, he also premiered Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club. Guiding Star (1998), is a portrayal of one man's struggle to come to terms with the Hillsborough FA Cup Semi-Final disaster, while Hushabye Mountain (1999) deals with a world that has learned to live with HIV/AIDS. Television and film works include: West End Girls (Carlton); Love Junkie (BBC); Beautiful Thing (Channel Four/Island World Productions); the 1999-2001 hit/cult comedy series starring Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus, Gimme Gimme Gimme (Tiger Aspect); Murder Most Horrid (BBC); and Coronation Street (ITV).
He also wrote the book for Closer to Heaven, a stage musical with songs and music written by Pet Shop Boys. Closer to Heaven ran for nine months at the Arts Theatre in London during 2001 and in Australia in 2005. In 2003 Harvey heard the singer-actress Abi Roberts perform and was so enchanted he offered to write a solo show especially for her. Taking Charlie was the outcome, staged at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival with Roberts starring, under the direction of Susan Tully. The piece was darkly comic and focused on the destructive nature of an insecure, 30-year-old addict.
Harvey is a patron of London-based HIV charity The Food Chain and a patron of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. His first novel All She Wants was published in 2012 by Pan Books
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
August 26, 2016
I've really enjoyed Harvey's previous books. They're full of wit and interesting characters and the stories range from daft to poignant. This book was a bit disappointing, I'm afraid. None of the characters were very likeable, it didn't have the wit as a result. The lines that were supposed to be funny fell flat because you really didn't like the characters who came across shallow and selfish rather than vulnerable. It takes a darker turn near the end which didn't help matters.
It's about three friends from school who grow apart after an incident. The story jumps back and forth from present day, when Adam and Kathleen are to attend the funeral of Jocelyn who has committed suicide by jumping off the balcony, to the past, telling their stories alternating from each character's point of view bringing the reader up to the funeral and the aftermath. It felt disjointed and awkward but I think that all comes back to the disagreeable three.
It's about three friends from school who grow apart after an incident. The story jumps back and forth from present day, when Adam and Kathleen are to attend the funeral of Jocelyn who has committed suicide by jumping off the balcony, to the past, telling their stories alternating from each character's point of view bringing the reader up to the funeral and the aftermath. It felt disjointed and awkward but I think that all comes back to the disagreeable three.
March 19, 2021
Loved this book. Made me laugh. Great twist at the end.
December 16, 2016
3.5 Stars
This was a rather confusing book to get into properly. The time line jumps all over the place, and so does which of the three characters you are focusing on. The best big of the book to me was Jocelyn's story, and I really enjoyed the chapters about her, including the mystery surrounding just what happened on the night she died. Unfortunately I did have high hopes for the book, but this fell short, I definitely prefer other books by the author.
This was a rather confusing book to get into properly. The time line jumps all over the place, and so does which of the three characters you are focusing on. The best big of the book to me was Jocelyn's story, and I really enjoyed the chapters about her, including the mystery surrounding just what happened on the night she died. Unfortunately I did have high hopes for the book, but this fell short, I definitely prefer other books by the author.
September 18, 2016
A slightly biased view as I love everything from Jonathan Harvey. This is a fun story of friendship and the strains that come throughout the years. It doesn't take Nostradamus to work out the main plot points but it's a fun journey filled with pithy (and quite rude) phrases.
August 5, 2017
The History Of Us
Took me a while to get into but glad I persevered with the story.
The story of three friends that was quite funny at times.
Turned out to be a good read in the end.
Took me a while to get into but glad I persevered with the story.
The story of three friends that was quite funny at times.
Turned out to be a good read in the end.
February 24, 2024
I felt this could have been similar to Mike Gayle’s novels but I didn’t feel for any of the characters who were all a bit one dimensional and cliched.
June 19, 2017
The period appealed to me and I could identify with the cutlural references as the characters grew up in the same era as I did! Do I like the characters? not particularly. It's a classic story based on mis-communciation, young people filling in the gaps in information and getting things horribly wrong. A pretty sad and sorry tale of how 3 young lives pan out. I had to take a break reading it, not because I didn't like it, but found enough interest to go back and finish it. So it's now all nicely tied up.
August 30, 2017
I felt like I had to drag myself through this book and I didn't really see the point of it. The main aspect happened in the last pages so it was very rushed and I couldn't really connect with any of the characters either.
July 23, 2017
This is my first Jonathan Harvey book. Bought as "buy one get one half price" deal in an airport to lighten the 16 hour flight home, I'm glad I didn't have too many expectations. I really didn't enjoy this book. Having surprisingly found my way through 4 holiday reads in the previous 3 weeks I felt I was on a roll with, lightweight, easy on the brain fodder. This one stopped my in my tracks. I only continued to read as I'd paid for it.
This book made me appreciate how very hard it is to write a good book, because I didn't think this was one. The characters were awful - I didn't really care what happened to any of them, or why. The reflections and reference points to the 90's seemed to come out of some "That was the 90's" Saturday night TV filler show - almost as though the author himself hadn't experienced them and was relying on a edited, condensed version of events (how funny, all we had were those old non-smart mobile phones - remember - hilarious?!). Just missed the mark for me.
This book made me appreciate how very hard it is to write a good book, because I didn't think this was one. The characters were awful - I didn't really care what happened to any of them, or why. The reflections and reference points to the 90's seemed to come out of some "That was the 90's" Saturday night TV filler show - almost as though the author himself hadn't experienced them and was relying on a edited, condensed version of events (how funny, all we had were those old non-smart mobile phones - remember - hilarious?!). Just missed the mark for me.
April 16, 2024
In Liverpool 1985, friends Adam, Jocelyn & Kathleen are linked together when they all take part in a new nativity play written by Adam. Jocelyn steals the show with her singing, while Adam lets the power of directing go to his head and Kathleen is along for the ride.
Feeling that they'll be friends forever, an unexpected event causes their friendship to crack during their teenage years and as they navigate their early twenties and beyond, they find themselves all going in different directions, until they're eventually reunited, but not in a way any of them would have thought.
To be honest, I didn't really enjoy this book but kept reading out of curiosity about how it would end. I felt that the chapters chopping and changing between the different characters and different times in their lives was quite confusing and it almost felt as if each chapter was almost like a chapter of their life, rather than it all linking together as a story.
Having read a couple of other books by this author, it wouldn't put me off reading another, but this one just wasn't for me.
Feeling that they'll be friends forever, an unexpected event causes their friendship to crack during their teenage years and as they navigate their early twenties and beyond, they find themselves all going in different directions, until they're eventually reunited, but not in a way any of them would have thought.
To be honest, I didn't really enjoy this book but kept reading out of curiosity about how it would end. I felt that the chapters chopping and changing between the different characters and different times in their lives was quite confusing and it almost felt as if each chapter was almost like a chapter of their life, rather than it all linking together as a story.
Having read a couple of other books by this author, it wouldn't put me off reading another, but this one just wasn't for me.
November 19, 2021
Score: 3/5
I've seen the adjective "delightful" and references to "humor" in this book. I must have been reading a different book because there wasn't anything delightful in this story.
This story is quite sad, the world imagined in it is vain, sordid, and cruel. The characters are all people I wish to never befriend and are shallow and unlikable that I couldn't relate to them at all. The setting was really superb and the author definitely utilized his personal experiences when making references to British pop culture to really hone in that 80s-90s era.
The last quarter of the book was difficult to pace through mainly because the main mystery has been unraveled and it got tedious reading on and on about the ramblings of these characters.
Do I recommend? It really depends on your subjective taste as a reader. I reckon fans of Jojo Moyes will like books like this one.
I've seen the adjective "delightful" and references to "humor" in this book. I must have been reading a different book because there wasn't anything delightful in this story.
This story is quite sad, the world imagined in it is vain, sordid, and cruel. The characters are all people I wish to never befriend and are shallow and unlikable that I couldn't relate to them at all. The setting was really superb and the author definitely utilized his personal experiences when making references to British pop culture to really hone in that 80s-90s era.
The last quarter of the book was difficult to pace through mainly because the main mystery has been unraveled and it got tedious reading on and on about the ramblings of these characters.
Do I recommend? It really depends on your subjective taste as a reader. I reckon fans of Jojo Moyes will like books like this one.
December 20, 2020
I’ve never read a book by Jonathan Harvey before so I have no idea whether it’s his 1st or 20th book, but as a first for me, I enjoyed the story. It follows three friends, Jocelyn, Kathleen and Adam - starting in their teens and way into their 40s. Life isn’t simple for any of them, and secrets have a way of coming out. It made a nice change to my usual psychological thriller books and the previews of his other books at the back all sound pretty interesting. I don’t think it’ll be the last of his books that I read.
August 19, 2023
My first Johnathan Harvey read, so not sure what his other books are like.
This one was confusing, jumps back and forth between the timeline, and introduces a characters timeline which you dont find out the importance of/character introduction of until over halfway through the book.
The characters are unrelateable and the story matter takes a dark twist at the end leaving it questioning the book in general as the ending feels as though it wasn't planned.
Overall I managed to get through the book, not one I would recommend though
This one was confusing, jumps back and forth between the timeline, and introduces a characters timeline which you dont find out the importance of/character introduction of until over halfway through the book.
The characters are unrelateable and the story matter takes a dark twist at the end leaving it questioning the book in general as the ending feels as though it wasn't planned.
Overall I managed to get through the book, not one I would recommend though
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2019
The last book of Johnathan Harvey's I read had me in stitches so I expected the same with this. Whilst it did have a level of humour to it throughout, the issues it dealt with were very serious, so it wasn't very uplifting. However it is very cleverly written, flitting forwards and back and balancing humour with gritty issues. I found myself changing my mind a lot on which characters I liked and which I didn't. I'd give another book by this author a go.
June 1, 2020
Jonathan Harvey is a good character writer, he manages to make his characters distinct and realistic. Unfortunately every character in this is a horrific, self obsessed, awful person. It makes it very difficult to care what happens to the three main protagonists.
The plot twists are mainly unsurprising, some things are resolved far too easily, and overall it just isn’t great.
This isn’t awful, but it’s a long was from a fabulous read.
The plot twists are mainly unsurprising, some things are resolved far too easily, and overall it just isn’t great.
This isn’t awful, but it’s a long was from a fabulous read.
August 28, 2020
Initially I thought this was going to be one of those books that make you laugh out loud but it is actually profoundly tragic. There are some elements of humour but the overriding theme is love and loss. I really related to a lot of the characters in the book, either through personal experience or through knowing someone like a character. I read this book with empathy in my heart and tears in my eyes.
July 26, 2021
'The History Of Us' is a coming of age tale that contains all of Harvey's signature style; Heart-warming, strong characters, intelligent storytelling and outrageously camp humour. An element of his play-writing success sneaks into this novel I think, and it's a dark sadness that I hadn't encountered in his previous novels. This story of three friends over 3 decades is as much a comedy as it is a cautionary tale. Be careful what you wish for because it might come true!
June 16, 2018
Multiple narrators, locations and timeframes. Not as confusing as this makes it sound. Dialogue is pretty sharp and the digs at the Katie Hopkins like Joycelyn are amusing enough. Character of Adam is somewhat stereotyped - surprisingly for this author. The outcome is a tad predictable but there was a degree of fun in getting there
September 21, 2018
Recommended for those who enjoy contemporary fiction verging on chick lit that is set in London. The book does a good job at portraying the dynamics of friendships (not always nice dynamics, either) and drawing out the mystery surrounding the characters, who are trying to figure out who knows just how much of each other's secrets. A good holiday read.
April 15, 2019
This is the first Jonathan Harvey I've read, and it will not be the last. Funny, bleak and scabrous in tone, the text goes to dark places and most pointedly in a story containing characters who are more or less my own age, produces a realistic depiction of life that's been lived long enough to contain regrets. It's this element that struck a tone with me. I'll be back for more.
July 5, 2019
There was some potential here but I felt like the book dragged on for way too long, not helped by dialogue that felt forced and email trails that were hard to believe. I didn't feel invested in the characters, and the flitting between perspectives felt more laboured and repetitive than it needed to be. I had to really force myself to finish this.
April 11, 2021
A 2.5.
I would have given this a higher score if the pivotal dénouement hadn't been so heavily signposted and easy to guess, and the characters had been more likeable (as it was, though well drawn they were all quite horrible and self-centred), in fact not sure that there was one truly likeable and empathetic character in the entire story.
I would have given this a higher score if the pivotal dénouement hadn't been so heavily signposted and easy to guess, and the characters had been more likeable (as it was, though well drawn they were all quite horrible and self-centred), in fact not sure that there was one truly likeable and empathetic character in the entire story.
January 3, 2019
The book is very well written. I enjoy the different perspectives provided by the author and the over-arching story kept me guessing.
Things I did not like include Kathleen’s perspective, which was boring and painful to read. I also did not enjoy the ending, and felt it didn’t fit with the personalities of the characters.
I’m excited to read many more books by the author, however this one will not be one of my favourites.
Things I did not like include Kathleen’s perspective, which was boring and painful to read. I also did not enjoy the ending, and felt it didn’t fit with the personalities of the characters.
I’m excited to read many more books by the author, however this one will not be one of my favourites.
August 18, 2019
I usually love Jonathan Harvey's book but I struggled with this one. Started off well and ended ok too, but the middle felt a bit flat to me. Easy to read though and it wouldn't put me off reading more
April 23, 2020
I’d expected a David Nichols (One Day) type novel and was disappointed. To be fair I did care enough about Harvey’s characters to keep reading. But I was galloping through unbothered about detail. Not a writer who works for me.
July 31, 2020
Despite stemming from an unoriginal plot, the book is filled with lots of plot twists which keep the reader hooked and wanting to read more. Very well developed characters. It's unlikely to win an literary awards but it's a very good read.
December 3, 2021
First time I have read this author. Too much offensive language, did not add anything to the storyline. Jumps all over the place and timelines become confusing. It’s a pity I don’t know whether I would read his other books.
April 27, 2022
Didnt seem to flow as well as my previous read from Harvey which I loved. Was good story though. I think another issue I had was the likeability of the characters was lacking until near the end which made it drag and didnt draw me in.
October 21, 2022
Such a simple yet so touching story with a BIG plottwist. A lot of misunderstandings and how sometimes you lose someone because of your own stubbornness. But written very is so its accessable for a lot of people.
April 13, 2018
Second book I’ve read of Jonathan Harvey’s and this one didn’t disappoint. Very clever, with a great twist at the end.
Loved it!
Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews