Published: February 2019

Author: Alice Oseman

Published by: Hodder Children’s Books

Genre: YA

Length: 288 pages

Reading dates: 3 April 2022

Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they’ve never met … until one day when they’re made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance.

But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised.

By Alice Oseman, winner of the YA Book Prize, Heartstopper is about love, friendship, loyalty and mental illness. It encompasses all the small stories of Nick and Charlie’s lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.

I’d been aware of the Heartstopper series, seeing people posting about it on Instagram but it wasn’t until I was browsing a bookshop window, hoping my teenage son would let me have a peak inside, that I decided to give it a try. And this was because he pointed it out and said how much one of his friends adored it. He isn’t a reader so we don’t have books in common sadly but I was keen to read a book that one of his friends would recommend.

Heartstopper is a YA graphic novel, written and illustrated by Alice Oseman that tells the story of Nick, an openly gay boy in Year 10 of an all boys school, who one day gets seated next to Charlie, who is in Year 11 and is a keen rugby player. They soon become friends and this is the story of their friendship and how it progresses.

The illustrations are really cute and often there aren’t many words but I really understood the characters feelings. I liked the fact that Nick and Charlie are from two different cliques and different year groups yet still find common ground. Having a son in Year 10, I like to think I know a little about teenage boys and I think they are well represented in this book. I know him and his friends are very open and talk about their sexuality which has changed so much since I was at school.

Heartstopper started as a web comic that began in September 2016 and Charlie and Nick are two characters which feature in Oseman’s first book, Solitaire which I also now want to read! Oseman is still updating the series on her website 3 times a month and it is about to debut on Netflix on 22nd April.
I absolutely loved Heartstopper. I read it in one sitting and have immediately ordered the other 3 volumes. Nick and Charlie’s friendship and burgeoning relationship is just adorable and I’m really crossing my fingers and hoping my son will actually pick it up too. If you have teenagers or even if you don’t, I’d highly recommend this wonderful book!

About the author:

Alice Oseman was born in 1994 in Kent, England. She completed a degree in English at Durham University in 2016 and is currently a full-time writer and illustrator. Alice can usually be found staring aimlessly at computer screens, questioning the meaninglessness of existence, or doing anything and everything to avoid getting an office job.

Website: https://www.aliceoseman.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AliceOseman