We Come Apart

Sarah Crossan · Brian Conaghan

Feb 2017 · Bloomsbury Publishing

About this ebook

YA rising stars Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan join forces to break readers' hearts in this contemporary story of star-cross'd lovers.

Jess would never have looked twice at Nicu if her friends hadn't left her in the lurch. Nicu is all big eyes and ill-fitting clothes, eager as a puppy, even when they're picking up litter in the park for community service. He's so not her type. Appearances matter to Jess. She's got a lot to hide.

Nicu thinks Jess is beautiful. His dad brought Nicu and his mum here for a better life, but now all they talk about is going back home to find Nicu a wife. The last thing Nicu wants is to get married. He wants to get educated, do better, stay here in England. But his dad's fists are the most powerful force in Nicu's life, and in the end, he'll have to do what his dad wants.

As Nicu and Jess get closer, their secrets come to the surface like bruises. The only safe place they have is with each other. But they can't be together, forever, and stay safe – can they?

An extraordinary, high-impact, high-emotion collaboration between two Carnegie honoured rising stars of YA. Perfect for fans of Patrick Ness, Malorie Blackman, Rainbow Rowell and John Green.

Sarah Crossan received the 2016 CILIP Carnegie Medal for her astonishing novel One, which also won the YA Book Prize,CBI Book of the Year Award and the CliPPA Poetry Award. Brian Conaghan's powerful debut, When Mr Dog Bites, was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, Peters Book of the Year and CBI Book of the Year Award.

Ratings and reviews

“We Never Get Lost And When I Wake I fear that our love will never be Found.” I read We Come Apart in one sitting. In fact, I think it’s the quickest I’ve ever read a full-fledged novel. Despite the fact that it was told in verse (like the quote above), We Come Apart was SUCH a different, thought provoking and consuming book to read. In fact, I found it VERY DIFFICULT to NOT put down. I’ve never read a book like this one before – told in verse, that is (is that what I should call it?) – Mostly because I never actually thought I’d like it. Poetry has never appealed much to me but after falling for this book, I feel like I should reconsider it. REASONS I LOVED THIS BOOK/ FELT ALL THE THINGS: 1. NICU: It’s very hard NOT to love someone who a) only wants a better life than the almost homeless, below the poverty line life that he was living in Romania before he came to England and b) who only wants to be GOOD, to make a life for himself in this county and BE ACCEPTED. I hated how EVERY SINGLE PERSON, even the adults and HIS TEACHERS judged him based on his language, his accent, his skin colour and the kids abused him and tortured him and yet HE WAS STILL A HOPEFUL FLOWER, because all he wanted was a good life for himself. I especially hated the school kids that beat him up and Meg (UGH) who said he touched her just FOR ATTENTION TO BE ON HER and it broke my heart that there was ALMOST NOBODY that would be nice to him, or cut him some slack. 2. THE REAL RAMPANT RACISM: Students enrolled in US universities after working twice as hard as any “white” kid aren’t allowed to return to STUDY. A Minister in India claims he will kill a hundred Muslims for even a single Hindu who dies. WE LIVE IN A HIGHLY RACIST WORLD, and We Come Apart captured the worst of it in a heart wrenching manner. 3. THE WRITING STYLE: Like I said before, I LOVED THE VERSE STYLE OF WRITING. It was a really raw form of writing, that managed to capture all the emotions of the moment and yet it wasn’t a rambling piece. I also loved how Nicu’s language problems were handled because English IS A COMPLICATED language and I smiled and felt for him when he spoke it. The only reason that this isn’t a Five Star Read for me is because: a) WE SAW SO MUCH RAMPANT RACISM AND ABUSE (and that was the point of the book, I’m guessing, to see how rampant it was and to see and FEEL what immigrants/ abused kids must go through) b) AND YET NOBODY – NOBODY – Said ANYTHING to the entitled White British Kids, not even Jess. There was no defining moment to the story that at least TRIED to teach those kids to be better (even if they won’t change) but there was NO TRYING. You’re supposed to say something, right? I guess I just wish that the ending, and the lesson about being conscious about how you treat ANYONE was better put forth. We Come Apart was a harrowing, eye-opening tale told in Lyrical prose that will consume you, and I highly recommend you dive in.

About the author

Sarah Crossan has lived in Dublin, London and New York, and now lives in Hertfordshire. She graduated with a degree in philosophy and literature before training as an English and drama teacher at Cambridge University. She received the 2016 CILIP Carnegie Medal for her astonishing novel One, which also won the YA Book Prize,CBI Book of the Year Award and the CliPPA Poetry Award. Since completing a masters in creative writing, she has been working to promote creative writing in schools.

http://www.sarahcrossan.com/ @SarahCrossan


Brian Conaghan was born and raised in the Scottish town of Coatbridge but now lives in Dublin. He has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow. For many years Brian worked as a teacher and taught in Scotland, Italy and Ireland. His novels include The Boy Who Made it Rain, published in 2011, When Mr Dog Bites which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2015, attracted both praise and controversy for its honest, moving and humorous depiction of a teenage boy with Tourette's syndrome and The Bombs That Brought Us Together, published in 2016 to critical acclaim.