One Day

Is One Day a modern classic? After the hype had died down, I bought a battered copy second-hand from a charity shop. Over a decade since reading it, I still mentally return to Dex and Em: what was and what could’ve been.

There’s also something in the beautiful narrative structure – where we see both sides of their story over time – that makes me ponder the way we can never fully know another person. Even when they are familiar to us. Perhaps especially then.

We all need a good love story, especially one that (spoiler alert) isn’t contingent on a Walt Disney-esque happy ending. One Day follows the near misses of Emma and Dexter over decades of almost falling in love. As you may expect, it’s a bittersweet, high-brow romcom, that gives inspiration to those who are still searching.