Product Description

'I can imagine you at forty,' she said, a hint of malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.'

He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.'

15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways.

So where will they be on this one day next year?

And the year after that? And every year that follows?

Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY. From the author of the massive bestseller STARTER FOR TEN.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #268 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Review
'It's rare to find a novel which ranges over the recent past with such authority, and even rarer to find one in which the two leading characters are drawn with such solidity, such painful fidelity, to real life that you really do put the book down with the hallucinatory feeling that they've become as well known to you as your closest friends. Hard to imagine anyone encountering characters as well drawn as this and not recognizing the extraordinary talent of the writer who has created them.' (Jonathan Coe, Guardian Books of the Year 2009 20090621)

'Incredibly moving' (Marian Keyes, writing in the Irish Independent 20090621)

'A totally brilliant book about the heartbreaking gap between the way we were and the way we are...the best weird love story since THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE. Every reader will fall in love with it. And every writer will wish they had written it.' (Tony Parsons 20090621)

'Big, absorbing, smart, fantastically readable . . . brilliant on the details of the last couple of decades of British cultural and political life . . . the perfect beach read for people who are normally repelled by the very idea of beach reads' (Nick Hornby 20090621)

'The funniest, loveliest book I've read in ages. Most of all it is horribly, cringingly, absolutely 100% honest and true to life: I lived every page.' (Jenny Colgan 20090621)

'The ultimate zeitgeist love story for anyone who ever wanted someone they couldn't have' (Adele Parks 20090621)

'I really loved it . . . it's absolutely wonderful . . . just so moving and engaging' (Kate Mosse 20090621)

'A wonderful, wonderful book: wise, funny, perceptive, compassionate and often unbearably sad . . . the best British social novel since Jonathan Coe's WHAT A CARVE UP! . . . Nicholls's witty prose has a transparency that brings Nick Hornby to mind: it melts as you read it so that you don't notice all the hard work that it's doing' (The Times 20090621)

'You'd be hard pressed to find a sharper, sweeter romantic comedy this year than the story of Dex and Em' (Independent 20090621)

'We may have found the novel of the year - a brilliantly funny and moving will-they, won't-they romance tracing a relationship on the same day each day for two decades' (Heat 20090621)

'With its beautifully rounded, real characters and deeply poignant storytelling, this is one of the year's best novels.' (Heat 20090621)

'With a nod to WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, this funny, emotionally engaging third novel from David Nicholls traces the unlikely relationship between Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew . . . Told with toe-curlingly accurate insight and touching observation . . . If you left college sometime in the Eighties with no clear idea of what was going to happen next, or who your lifelong friends might turn out to be, this one's a definite for your holiday suitcase. If you didn't, it still is . . . The feelgood film must surely be just around the corner. I can't wait.' (Daily Mail 20090621)

'Nicholls has a gimlet eye for period detail . . . A beguiling read' (Observer 20090621)

'[Nicholls] has both a very deft prose style and a great understanding of human emotion. His characterisation is utterly convincing . . . ONE DAY is destined to be a modern classic.' (Daily Mirror 20090621)

'A moving and feel-good read. Nicholls is an expert at capturing that essence of young adulthood, first love, heartbreak, and the tangled, complicated course of romance . . . Deserves to be the must-read hit of the summer.' (News of the World 20090621)

'I couldn’t think of anyone who wouldn’t love this book' (Simon Mayo Books Panel, BBC Radio Five Live 20090621)

'Nicholls captures superbly the ennui of post graduation . . . The writing is almost faultless, there's a great feeling for the period and it's eminently readable.' (Herald 20090621)

'Nicholls has written a warm, witty, smart and sad novel, and maybe one of the best books of the year' (Sunday Tribune 20090621)

'David Nicholls' third novel captivates love in a way that's real and unassuming . . . Relaying the essence of friendship and unrequited love with fall-off-your-seat humour, this is an unputdownable romance for the 21st century' (SHE 20090603)

'You're gripped from the opening pages . . . Nicholls, author of STARTER FOR TEN, writes faultless, engaging dialogue and keeps up a cracking pace. You will find this hard to put down' (Psychologies 20090527)

'As a study of what we once were and what we can become, it's masterfully realised' (Esquire 20090609)

'Perfect for the beach or summer in the city' (In Style 20090609)

'An off-kilter romantic comedy with charm to spare' (Harpers Bazaar 20090609)

'A delicious love story' (Sunday Herald 20090609)

'funny and moving' (Scotsman 20090609)

'David STARTER FOR TEN Nicholls is back with this smart comedy, packed with the mistakes, mismatches and meandering conversations that make up real life' (Marie Claire, Book of the Month 20090609)

'A modern fairy tale, slickly put together. A gifted story-teller with lots of technical savvy.' (Scottish Review of Books )

'An edgy romantic tale' (Woman & Home )

'I loved this book . . . moved me profoundly' (Amanda Ross )

'Snort-out-loud stuff . . . it deserves to be a huge hit' (thelondonpaper )

'A wonderful evocation of a modern love affair' (Glamour )

'Lightly done, but saved from schmaltz by rueful wit and lashings of cringe-inducing nostalgia' (Guardian Review )

'Clever, funny and poignant' (Daily Express )

'A total treat . . . by turns bittersweet, funny, touching and sad, but always Nicholls's wonderfully observant and wry touch shines through. A way-we-live-now parable about relationships, disappointments, friendship and expectations; a novel utterly comfortable in its own skin' (Kate Mosse, writing in The Times )

'Fabulous . . . I couldn't put it down . . . It's brilliant' (Fay Ripley )

About the Author
David Nicholls trained as an actor before making the switch to writing. His TV credits include the third series of Cold Feet, Rescue Me, and I Saw You. He was co-writer for the film adaptation of Simpatico, which starred Nick Nolte, Jeff Bridges and Sharon Stone. David's bestselling first novel, STARTER FOR TEN, was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club in 2004, and David has written the screenplays for film versions of both STARTER FOR TEN (released in 2006, starring James McAvoy) and THE UNDERSTUDY (not yet released). Also, for BBC TV, David wrote a modern version of Much Ado About Nothing and recently adapted Tess of the D'Urbervilles. He is currently working on an adaptation of Far From The Madding Crowd. (20090219)

Customer Reviews

If you like life, you'll like this
From being a celebrity in the 90's to having a boss with a large beard, nothing is shied away from in this big pot of life. This book follows every 15th July from 1988 (end of their studentship) to near present day in the lives of two characters; Emma and Dexter, and their relationship with each other and others. Don't be put off by the length (430 odd pages) of this book - it is so ridiculously easy to read it makes the act of putting on a DVD seem like overexertion. That's not to say that the writing isn't thickly layered - it's stuffed with literary calories. Emma and Dexter jump out of the book and start living with you, eat your food and argue over the top of your head about the worthlessness of Scrabble. So much of the sharp-razor sharp dialogue sticks a grin on your face, people are unlikely to sit next to you on the train (read in extra comfort).

So there's Emma: warm, funny and cataclysmically directionless. Dexter: confident, arrogant, and transparent. The book then bends these attributes into the three dimensional. Their relationship treads its own path - there's no inevitability in what the next year will bring - their interactions with others the same. Every supporting character, whether they're on one page or a hundred is given their own space to be believable and interesting, and most likely make quite a bit of a mess of things.

The book finished - I'm missing them both. Time for them to come and bother you.

excellent
As much as I loved 'Starter for Ten', and Nicholls' subsequent novel 'The Understudy' (and I really did love both of those novels), neither of them are in the same league as 'One Day'.

One gets the impression that Nicholls has come a long way as an author, and has branched away from the light comedy genre to a thoughtful character study/love story. The characterisation in this novel is superb. It is achingly realistic, and sometimes cringeworthy, as both main characters have their moments of being truly unlikeable. At other times they are sweet and endearing, and even when they are being truly foul we want them to succeed, because we believe in them. They are flawed, complex and contradictory, as we are in real life. In fact it's hard to believe that Emma and Dexter do not really exist. The narrative is equally thoughtful, leaving the reader to work certain things out - for example, some chapters end on a hook which is never definitively resolved, only hinted at. For me, this is definitely a strength.

As thoughtful and subtle as this novel is, it still retains the strengths of Nicholls' earlier novels. The humour is wonderful and sharply observed, and while perhaps the belly laughs are not as evident as in starter for ten and the understudy, I definitely gave an out-loud chuckle more than once. The plot is also a ripping page turner, making it hard to put down late at night!

In summary, this book comprises of superb characterisation, thoughtful and witty observations and a subtle, engaging plot. Highly recommended.

can't stop thinking about it
I read this book in a couple of days, but after a week I still can't stop thinking about it. The two characters don't just seem real - it's like you really do know them - and I don't mean this in some literary, metaphorical sense either. The whole thing made me cry tears of joy and sadness and still does. And I keep picking it up again, re-reading passages. In a funny kind of way the book works in real time: it occurs over a period or some 20 years, but, like real life, the twenty years seem flash by in a few days.... literally. The book provokes a real sense of you needing to know what will become of these two people, but whatever you do, don't peek ahead. Ingenious, heartbreaking, and just astonishingly beautiful.....

one other thing. Nicholls quotes Thomas Hardy a bit, but as well as the chapter quotes, the technical similarities are very striking - right down to certain things relating to destiny, time, and premonition that happen in the plot. This is every bit as smart as Hardy, and rather less sanctimonious.