One Day by David NichollsMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another.
Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.
Twenty years, two people, one day.
My Review
It’s a great premise: snapshots covering twenty years from the anniversary date of Dex and Em’s one-night stand. I also like the double meaning of the title, ‘One Day’, which not only refers to zooming in on the same day each year, but the whimsical wish we often make, as in ‘maybe one day…’ which is the underlying romantic drive of the story.
I love the writing style of this book – poignant, laugh-out-loud and downright cringy – it’s a portrayal of the poor and clumsy choices we all make in love and in our careers. The two main characters are beautifully and sharply defined as they start out in their early twenties and each take their separate forks in the metaphorical road of life. Two lost souls without a map. Dexter starts out arrogant and ambitious, Emma, under-confident and uncertain and we track their journeys annually to discover the ways in which their characters change, develop and overlap. There are some hilarious scenes, such as the ‘Are you there, Moriarty?’ game! Had to read this bit several times!
This was a refreshing change from psychological thrillers for me (both reading and writing them!). In my view, yes, it does live up to the hype. My only gripe (and I don’t want to reveal any plot details here), is the ending. Not what happens in the story as such, but the rounding off in the last few chapters. It petered out with revisited memories of earlier dates and almost got a star knocked off… I kept thinking I must have missed something. Please tell me if I have!
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| All books can be read in any order (including Inside the Whispers (Bk 1) and Lost in the Lake (Bk 2) which are also in a series) |
- Over 450,000 books sold worldwide
- Girl on a Train #1 Bestseller on Kindle in UK and Australia (2015 & 2016)
- The Evil Beneath #1 in ‘Murder’ and ‘Psychological Thrillers’
- Dark Place to Hide #1 in ‘Vigilante Justice’
- No Longer Safe #1 in ‘Crime Noir’ [30,000 sold in the first month]
- Inside the Whispers #1 in ‘Medical Thrillers’
- Lost in the Lake #1 in ‘Hot New Releases/Medical Thrillers’
