Published: 04/02/2010
With its epic sweep and stunning structural conceit, One Day fizzes with wit, deft characterisation and sheer storytelling brio. A novel capable of moving the reader from laughter to tears in the course of a single sentence.
Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY. The multi-million copy bestseller that captures the experiences of a generation.
'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?
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 9780340896983
Number of pages: 448
Weight: 331 g
Dimensions: 197 x 138 x 29 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
One Day is destined to be a modern classic - Daily Mirror
Big, absorbing, smart, fantastically readable - Nick Hornby
A wonderful, wonderful book - The Times
I finished it last night and I'm still quite wobbly and affected by it. It was BRILLIANT . . . the jealousy nearly made me puke. I wish I'd written this book - Marian Keyes
A genuine tear-jerker as well as laugh-out-loud funny - Books of the Year, Independent on Sunday
This perfectly executed novel is a reminder that reading can be the finest entertainment there is - Guardian
The book I go back to time and time again is One Day by David Nicholls. I read it every couple of years. It's perfect - Dolly Alderton, author of GHOSTS
A modern classic - Prime
One of the most tear-jerking novels ever written - YOU Magazine
I couldn't think of anyone who wouldn't love this book - Simon Mayo Books Panel, BBC Radio Five Live
Re-reading One Day by David Nicholls is another version of putting on a Nora Ephron movie. It never gets old because the pleasure and comfort is in the language and the observations and the characters - Maggie Shipstead, author of GREAT CIRCLE
One Day changed my life - Pandora Sykes, author of HOW DO WE KNOW WE'RE DOING IT RIGHT
Captivating - Hello
You'd be hard pressed to find a sharper, sweeter romantic comedy - Independent
David Nicholls portrays the bittersweet experience of being a young man so brilliantly - iNews
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, The Times
An off-kilter romantic comedy with charm to spare - Harper's Bazaar
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 - Jonathan Coe, Books of the Year, Guardian
Nicholls has a gimlet eye for period detail . . . A beguiling read - Observer
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, author of THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR
Who doesn't relish a love story with the right amount of heart-melting romance, disappointment, regret, and huge doses of disenchantment about growing up and growing old between quarrelling meant-to-be lovers? - Top 10 Summer Books, Elle
As a study of what we once were and what we can become, it's masterfully realised - Esquire
A brilliantly funny and moving will-they, won't-they romance tracing a relationship on the same day each day for two decades - Heat
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 - Daily Mail
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
Nicholls has a gift for zeitgeist description and emotional empathy that's wholly his own . . . [A] light but surprisingly deep romance so thoroughly satisfying - Entertainment Weekly
David Nicholls's One Day needs a special mention for its perfect encapsulation of Edinburgh's university experience. The novel takes place mostly in London but its two main characters meet as students here and almost - but not quite - fall for each other. Therein lies the tale - New York Times
A pleasingly collaborative reading experience - Financial Times
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, author of DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME?
The ultimate zeitgeist love story for anyone who ever wanted someone they couldn't have - Adele Parks, author of ONE LAST SECRET
Warm-hearted, funny, endearing - Sydney Morning Herald
Page by page, the funniest book of the year - Uncut
Perfect for the beach or summer in the city - In Style
A delicious love story - Sunday Herald
A smart comedy, packed with the mistakes, mismatches and meandering conversations that make up real life - Marie Claire
A modern fairy tale, slickly put together. A gifted story-teller with lots of technical savvy - Scottish Review of Books
A compulsive read you'll want to devour in one sitting - Woman
A cross between Jonathan Coe and Nick Hornby, this is romantic, sharp and very English - Scotsman
Nicholls' unmatchable gift for dialogue and romantic plotting - Evening Standard
An unputdownable romance for the 21st century - She
We could fill a page with descriptive proclamations of its brilliance, but we'll stick with intoxicating, engrossing and verging on genius. If this has never graced your bedside table, then go directly to the nearest bookshop, purchase one copy and start 2010 with a read that has taken the literary world by storm - Daily Record
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
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
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
An edgy romantic tale - Woman & Home
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“In the didn't like it camp”
I have to say I felt I was reading the wrong book going on how delighted people were and expressing how much they loved this book when they saw I was reading it. It opens in 1988, the 15th of July with Emma and... More
“A must read”
First let me say, if your only experience of One Day is the film, do not let this put you off! The book is a sheer delight and the film did not do it justice.
Each chapter meets Emma and Dexter on the same date but a...
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“A future classic”
Quite easily one of the greatest books of our time. Not only does it have a timeless quality that feels more than just words on a page, but it has the ability to transcend gender, age, race... The book is written for... More
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