When We Were Young
By (Author) Elaine Hastings
HarperCollins Publishers
AVON, a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
1st December 2025
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Narrative theme: Love and relationships
Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss
Narrative theme: Identity / belonging
Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary
Modern and Contemporary romance
Family life fiction
Paperback
432
Width 153mm, Height 234mm, Spine 27mm
270g
Spring, 1994.
Will Bailey, a struggling musician busking in a tube station, falls for Emily, the quirky art student who passes by every week. By 1997, Wills performing on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury, and Emily has her own gallery show. The pair share a magical summer, touring across Europe and America with Will's band caught up in their love, both for each other and their art.
But within two years, Will is dead.
Spring, 2016.
Emily has stayed single since Wills death. Her art career is long gone, and her 16-year-old daughter, Liv, is all that matters. But when Liv plays an old Will Bailey song in the car, Emily loses control and crashes. Concussed, she reveals she knew Will back in his heyday. Liv cant let this secret go: how could her boring, normal mother who never goes anywhere or does anything have known someone like Will Bailey
And why does she blame herself for his death
Interweaving Emily and Wills bittersweet love story with Emily and Livs present-day struggle to understand one another, When We Were Young explores what it means to have loved and lost and will remind you that the ones you love can set you free.