One Day

TWENTY YEARS, TWO PEOPLE, ONE DAY

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?

The multi-million copy bestselling novel that brilliantly captures the experiences of a generation. From beloved author David Nicholls.

Review

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

About the Author

David Nicholls is the bestselling author of Starter for Ten, The Understudy, One Day, Us and Sweet Sorrow. One Day was published in 2009 to extraordinary critical acclaim: translated into 40 languages, it became a global bestseller, selling millions of copies worldwide. His fourth novel, Us, was longlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.
On screen, David has written adaptations of Far from the Madding Crowd, When Did You Last See Your Father? and Great Expectations, as well as of his own novels, Starter for Ten, One Day and Us. His adaptation of Edward St Aubyn's Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, was nominated for an Emmy and won him a BAFTA for best writer. The Netflix adaptation of One Day was executive-produced by David.
David's latest novel, You Are Here, will be published in April 2024 and is available for pre-order now.