One Day David Nicholls

Over a year after its release in paperback, David Nicholls’ award-winning One Day is still riding high in the UK Book charts, and it isn’t difficult to see why. Voted the 2010 Galaxy Book of the Year, One Day is one of those unusual books that feels like a truly great novel and a guilty pleasure at the same time.

With unmistakable echoes of ‘When Harry Met Sally’, One Day is an intelligent, off-beat, vividly-realised romantic comedy, written as much for men as for women. It’s emotional but not sentimental; compassionate but not indulgent; perceptive but not judgemental.

Emma and Dexter meet on 15th July 1988 on the night of their graduation. The next day they must go their separate ways.

The novel revisits their lives each year on 15th July, tracing the different paths that they take as they struggle to stay afloat in the complicated world of post-graduate adulthood. Even when their paths are continents apart, even when their lives are travelling in completely opposite directions, there is always a thread that binds Emma and Dexter together, year after year.

Part of One Day’s success lies in its lack of inevitability; Emma and Dexter read like real people living real, messy lives, making the decisions – right or wrong – that they think are best at any given time. They are perfectly-rounded characters who become old friends to the reader without ever being predictable.

Funny, tragic, warm-hearted and irresistible, One Day is one of those classic stories that will haunt you forever.

To find out about other books in the charts, have a look at the UK’s 20 bestselling books.

If you like One Day, you may also enjoy:

About a Boy
Nick Hornby

The Time Traveler’s Wife
Audrey Niffenegger

Starter for Ten
David Nicholls