Book Review; One Day; David Nicholls

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One Day, David Nicholls, Hodder, 2010

At its heart One Day is a love story but there is so much more to it than that.  Emma and Dexter meet on St Swithin’s Day – 15th July- 1988 at University.  Full of hopes and dreams, with the rest of their lives ahead of them, they put the world to rights on the night they meet; their graduation.  Their paths in life could not be more different after this day, yet they always converge again on this one day of each year.  

Dexter achieves a level of celebrity and all the clichés that come with it – sex, drugs and rock and roll.  Emma spends her first years after graduation making ends meet in jobs which pay the bills, her life could not be more different from Dexter’s and yet their worlds collide each year on this one day.

I fell in love with both characters; Emma’s feistiness was a delight and I loved seeing her trajectory as she truly blossomed in life and shone as brightly as any star.  Although Dexter’s character wasn’t likeable at times, this showed how much he and Emma complimented and brought out the best in each other. 

One Day works so well, as we all have friends whose lives are so uncompromisingly different to our own, and yet we mesh – I can’t think of a single person who wouldn’t be able to relate to this book in one way or another.  As readers we follow their journey through their twenties and thirties, and reflect on just how much our lives change year on year and yet we barely notice.

The novel is so well written I didn’t want to put it down.  The twist when it came shocked me so much I had to re-read the surrounding pages, hoping I’d imagined it.  The overwhelming message I took from One Day was to treasure your loved ones and seize the moment, as it can all change – all it takes is one day…

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