YOUNG ADULT

book of the week

FRESHERS by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison, Chicken House, £7.99 (ebook £6.47) IT’S Freshers’ Week at York Met, and first years Phoebe and Luke went to high school together. Luke may not remember, but Phoebe, who’s had a crush on him since forever, is fully, excruciatingly aware of this fact.

Written as an alternating twohander, the pair bumble through their first week, grappling with hangovers, eating Nutella, just about remembering to go to lectures, and trying to be likeable enough to make friends – bumping into each other as they go.

Writers Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison draw strongly on their own time as York students (where they were a couple until the end of their first year), which makes it so convincing that, if you’ve already been to uni, you’ll feel yourself propelled back in time, and if you’re currently preparing to go, seriously, this is all the survival guide you’ll need.

From wearing a duvet to go buy milk, to drinking punch from the (absolutely disgusting) bath tub and crumbling under the pressure of who you’re going to live with next year, it’s got the terror, joy and freedom of first year nailed.

Phoebe’s friendships in particular – with restrained medical student Negin; madcap, chatterbox Frankie; and huggable Josh – distil the intensity of having to make friends for life with people, just because they’re on your corridor in halls. Oh, and it’s hilarious.

Get it for every sixth-former/ fresher-in-waiting you know.