When Dexter met Emma

Boy meets girl. Just in the nick of time, they spend one day (and night) together before graduation parts them onto different trajectories- he rocketing into fame and fortune in television as her dreams of writing plummet into an oblivion of greasy quesadillas and congealed chips. Yet on this one summer day, for the next twenty years, their paths will somehow intersect. They’re hardly star-crossed lovers: Dexter is a handsome toff, Emma’s definitely more geek than chic. He can be infuriatingly self-centred, she has an annoying tendency to hide behind self-deprecating humour and bad glasses (at times, it’s hard to believe she’s as beautiful as Dexter sees her). But I think it’s this imperfect mismatch that makes them so true to life- and this book, One Day by David Nicholls, so difficult to put down. Compiled like a photo album, the book is a series of annual snapshots that chart Dexter and Emma’s halting relationship from ambitious youth through to resigned middle age. At times, this device seems a bit like a cop out- the perfect alibi for a patchy plot-and often moments that should be some sort of milestone are suddenly forgotten as the years plough on. For all this frustration, though, Nicholls writes in an unaffected style that is shrewdly observed and very endearing, with just the right amount of cringe. I guarantee that you will laugh. If you are the pathetic type that cried at The Notebook, then you’ll probably shed some tears. Funny, familiar, and just completely addictive- believe the hype, because this really is the perfect holiday read.