We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

Something to Live For

Buy Now:

Audiobook Downloadable / ISBN-13: 9781409185635

Price: £19.99

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

‘A perfect, quirky summer page-turner. A life-affirming debut’ The Sunday Times
‘Funny, moving and thought-provoking – I loved this’ Clare Mackintosh
‘If you loved Eleanor Oliphant, try this brilliant new read’ Fabulous

The most uplifting story of the summer – about Andrew, who has forgotten how to live, and Peggy, who helps him remember…

————————-

MEET ANDREW.

Everybody likes Andrew. But they don’t really know him.

They know what he’s told them – that he’s happily married with two kids. Living the kind of life that’s either so boring it’s true, or so perfect it’s a lie . . .

ENTER PEGGY.

Peggy arrives in Andrew’s life in a burst of kindness and possibility. For the first time in ages, Andrew feels alive again. So now that he has everything to lose, can he risk it all and tell Peggy the truth?

A big-hearted story about love, loneliness, and the importance of taking a chance when we feel we have the most to lose.

————————-

See what everyone is saying about this summer’s most uplifting bestseller!



‘A magnificent read. Tender, funny, compelling’ Lucy Foley

‘Funny, moving and thought-provoking – I loved this’ Clare Mackintosh

‘I adored this! It warmed my heart, broke it a little, then put it back together’ Beth O’Leary

‘Funny, moving and uplifting…I loved it’ Libby Page

‘Heart-breaking. Hilarious. Life-affirming’ Holly Bourne

‘A life-affirming novel that simultaneously tweaks your funny-bone and tugs at your heartstrings. Brilliant!’ Matt Dunn

‘It pulls you in, makes you laugh and breaks your heart’ Gill Hornby

‘Endearing, funny and life-affirming, with a perfect dose of loneliness and human kindness’ Caroline Smailes

‘Wryly funny and quirkily charming – perfect for fans of A Man Called Ove and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely FineEleanor Brown

‘A beautiful, heart-warming laugh out loud story’ Dinah Jefferies

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

The story Roper tells is a charming, humorous and life-affirming tale about human kindness that strikes a chord in a world where loneliness is a growing problem.
Rebecca Thomas, BBC NEWS ONLINE, Best Fiction of 2019
Funny, moving and thought-provoking - I loved this.
Clare Mackintosh
Like everyone else, I completely fell under its spell. It pulls you in, makes you laugh and breaks your heart - in short, does everything that you want a novel to do. Every character is round and real - from dear old Andrew, through the wonderful Peggy - oh, Peggy! - to the anonymous woman in the cloud of perfume who lives downstairs. While it is very much in the David Nicholls' tradition of sympathetic quirk and comedy, it is, at the same time, so fresh and different. I loved the voice, the people, the world..... Who couldn't? What an extraordinary debut.
Gill Hornby
Tender, funny, compelling - this wonderful book deserves to be huge!
Lucy Foley, author of THE HUNTING PARTY
Wryly funny and quirkily charming - perfect for fans of A Man Called Ove and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Eleanor Brown, author of The Weird Sisters
Just finished Something To Live For with tears running down my cheeks. Heart-breaking. Hilarious. Life-affirming. Some descriptions of loneliness took my breath away. This book deserves to be HUGE.
Holly Bourne
Funny, moving and uplifting... I loved it.
Libby Page, author of THE LIDO
A life-affirming novel that simultaneously tweaks your funny-bone and tugs at your heartstrings. Brilliant!
Matt Dunn
Warmed my heart, broke it a little, then put it back together
Beth O'Leary, bestselling author of the THE FLATSHARE
I loved this novel with my whole heart.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
[An] off-beat and winning debut..., [Something To Live For] earns its pathos. Even more to its credit, it gives resiliency and the triumph of the human spirit a good name.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Darkly humorous.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Roper's delightful debut is as funny as it is touching... This story of a neurotic, tenderhearted man struggling to learn how not to be alone is irresistible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tragic, sweet, and hopeful... This novel will appeal to fans of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
BOOKLIST
Quirky and heartfelt... Andrew's past traumas are revealed gradually, and the reasons behind his isolation are heartbreaking and poignant. A moving and funny look at grief, hope, and the power of human connections.
KIRKUS REVIEWS
Gentle comedy and these characters' innately kind natures enriches what might have been starkly sad moments... [Roper] admirably tackles a painful subject with goodhearted characters it's easy to root for.
USA TODAY
Endearing and delightful.
Nina Pottell, PRIMA
It's no surprise that TV rights to this funny, tender and all-the-feels book have already been snapped up.
Sarra Manning, RED
This perfect, quirky summer page-turner... a life-affirming debut.
Sharmaine Lovegrove, SUNDAY TIMES STYLE
Nick Hornby and David Nicholls' quirky love child would write like Richard Roper. Something to Live For is endearing, funny and life-affirming, with a perfect dose of loneliness and human kindness
Caroline Smailes
A definite contender for my book of the year . . . funny, heartbreaking and cleverly observed
Claire Frost
A sweetly poignant debut.
Eithne Farry, SUNDAY EXPRESS S MAGAZINE
If you loved Eleanor Oliphant, try this brilliant new read... We completely fell in love with this funny, uplifting debut.
Claire Frost, FABULOUS
Endearing.
Patricia Nicol, SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE
A wonderful debut that's heartbreaking, uplifting and laugh-out-loud funny... an inspiring, life-affirming read.
Zoe West, WOMAN'S WEEKLY
This is a story that gets under your skin - and a must read.
Natasha Harding, THE SUN
Richard Roper's debut is heart-breaking, uplifting, funny and brimming with human kindness.
SUNDAY HERALD
A poignant, superbly funny debut novel about love, loneliness and the many ways life doesn't always go to plan.
WATERSTONES
Life-affirming...moments of hilarity while conveying a message about stepping out of comfort zones
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
A wonderful debut that's heartbreaking, uplifting and laugh-out-loud funny all at once.
WOMAN'S OWN
Eleanor Oliphant for men
David Sexton, EVENING STANDARD
Something To Live For is a heart-warming, funny yet poignant debut novel. Exploring loneliness and family breakdown, Richard Roper has created a cast of colourful and weirdly wonderful characters. An uplifting and life-affirming read.
Anne Cater, DAILY EXPRESS
A poignant but uplifting novel that's related with great compassion and humour.
Fanny Blake, DAILY MAIL
This could almost be the tie-in novel for a Richard Curtis romcom... Something To Live For benefits from the same earnest charm.
Thomas Barrie, GQ
Richard Roper has crafted a compelling mystery in this clever and uplifting debut... Something to Live For is a story about the problems we encounter as human beings and the connections that save us.
Sarah Gilmartin, IRISH TIMES
A beautiful, heart-warming laugh out loud story.
Dinah Jefferies via Twitter
This magnificent debut is a must for your summer reading list - heartbreaking, funny and tender, it has it all!
MY WEEKLY
As hilarious as it is heart-breaking... a truly memorable and quirky read: unusual and sometimes side-splittingly funny.
Helena Gumley-Mason, THE LADY