One Day…you’ll wish it lasted longer.

One Day made me giddy with anticipation, scream with frustration and sigh with contentment all within a matter of pages.

This recent British import is one of the best books I have read in years.   I couldn’t believe how quickly I became engrossed in the narrative and attached to the characters.  It is a fast-paced page turner but I occasionally found myself putting the book down because I didn’t think I could handle what might happen next. By creating realistically complex individuals and relationships, David Nicholls takes you on an emotional roller coaster from the first page.

In this brilliantly constructed novel, the story progresses (and occasionally regresses) by giving the reader a snapshot into the lives of the characters on July 15th of every year.  We first meet Dexter and Emma right after they have graduated from college.  She is full of ambitions and ideals; he is hoping to avoid any responsibility for as long as possible.  Some years the characters spend St. Swithun’s Day (July 15th) together, some years they correspond from a distance and some years they are trying to forget the other exists.  Over the next 20 years Em and Dex face the reality of career and love disappointments while battling to define their own tenuous relationship.