There are few things in life better than a weepy romance novel, and One Day, which celebrates its 10th anniversary, is as good as it gets. David Nicholls‘ third novel tells the story of a friendship formed at a university graduation, and revisits the lives of these friends, Emma and Dexter, on the same day every year for 20 years. Their lives aren’t plain sailing, and we follow their ups and downs along the way as they grow from students to adults.
This is hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure, telling tales of love and loss in the entertainment industry that aren’t dissimilar to more modern blockbusters like A Star is Born. Unfortunately, however, when this book was later made into a movie, it didn’t have the same success, with critics panning Anne Hathaway’s rather interesting attempt at a Yorkshire accent, although it was popular among fans. The novel itself, however, did receive the recognition it deserved, as it was named the Galaxy Book of the Year in 2010.
More recently, Nicholls has been celebrated as the writer of the BAFTA-winning drama Patrick Melrose starring Benedict Cumberbatch. He has worked on several TV dramas over the years, but continues to write novels too, with Sweet Sorrow due to be published this summer.
Novels like One Day provide a bit of a break from all of the seriousness going on in the world right now, and if you haven’t already, you should definitely add it to your summer reading list. A warning, though: you might get quite emotional if you do!
David Nicholls’ new novel, Sweet Sorrow, will be published on 11th July.
In the mean time, watch the trailer for the 2011 One Day movie adaptation below:
