You Are Here by David Nicholls

This is at core a romance novel, but it is genre breaking because you cannot tell where it will land until midway through the novel, and even then you cannot quite see how it will work out. When I think about it, this is my very favorite sort of romantic comedy, one that is smart, the people seem real, like you might know someone who is similar, and it is not all 100% predictable. Michael, 42, a bearded geography teacher from York, is walking 200 miles across Britain in order not to think about his recent divorce. His concerned friend Cleo gathers a small party to accompany him for the first few days, including her old friend Marnie, 38, a copy editor, also divorced, living in Herne Hill. Marnie’s friends have all married and moved out of London. Cleo wants to be a matchmaker, but she has a big fail at the outset when both of the potential matches for one of them bows out of the Coast-to-Coast hike (which has been oft described as a pretty rugged ramble--not impossible, but also nota walk in the park), as does Cleo's spouse. Bright, bookish Marnie therefore initially pursues the handsome Conrad, who isn’t very smart and doesn’t like books, but loves Formula One, overlooking Michael altogether. What follows, told in alternating narratives by Marnie and Michael, involves witty conversation, weather, overnight stops, mild drunken escapades and tugged heartstrings. There are a series of unfortunate events along the way, but it is an enjoyable walk overall, and it goes to show, you just never know.