Book at Bedtime One Day (2009) BBC Radio (MP3 128kbps) dearleuk

Book at Bedtime - One Day 08-06-2009 - 19-06-2009

Julian Rhind-Tutt reads from the bittersweet novel by David Nicholls.

Reviews of the book

'A totally brilliant book about the heartbreaking gap between the way we were and the way we are...the best weird love story since THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE. Every reader will fall in love with it. And every writer will wish they had written it.' (Tony Parsons 20090621)

'Big, absorbing, smart, fantastically readable . . . brilliant on the details of the last couple of decades of British cultural and political life . . . the perfect beach read for people who are normally repelled by the very idea of beach reads' (Nick Hornby 20090621)

'The funniest, loveliest book I've read in ages. Most of all it is horribly, cringingly, absolutely 100% honest and true to life: I lived every page.' (Jenny Colgan 20090621)

'The ultimate zeitgeist love story for anyone who ever wanted someone they couldn't have' (Adele Parks 20090621)

'I really loved it . . . it's absolutely wonderful . . . just so moving and engaging' (Kate Mosse 20090621)

'A wonderful, wonderful book: wise, funny, perceptive, compassionate and often unbearably sad . . . the best British social novel since Jonathan Coe's WHAT A CARVE UP! . . . Nicholls's witty prose has a transparency that brings Nick Hornby to mind: it melts as you read it so that you don't notice all the hard work that it's doing' (The Times 20090621)

'You'd be hard pressed to find a sharper, sweeter romantic comedy this year than the story of Dex and Em' (Independent 20090621)

'We may have found the novel of the year - a brilliantly funny and moving will-they, won't-they romance tracing a relationship on the same day each day for two decades' (Heat 20090621)

'With its beautifully rounded, real characters and deeply poignant storytelling, this is one of the year's best novels.' (Heat 20090621)

'With a nod to WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, this funny, emotionally engaging third novel from David Nicholls traces the unlikely relationship between Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew . . . Told with toe-curlingly accurate insight and touching observation . . . If you left college sometime in the Eighties with no clear idea of what was going to happen next, or who your lifelong friends might turn out to be, this one's a definite for your holiday suitcase. If you didn't, it still is . . . The feelgood film must surely be just around the corner. I can't wait.' (Daily Mail 20090621)

'[Nicholls] has both a very deft prose style and a great understanding of human emotion. His characterisation is utterly convincing . . . ONE DAY is destined to be a modern classic.' (Daily Mirror 20090621)

1/10 The friendship between Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew begins on the day after graduation - the morning after they have spent the night together.

2/10 It is July 1989, a year after Emma and Dexter first met - and agreed to be 'just friends'. Dex is off travelling in India and Em has slid into a grim waitressing job at a Mexican restaurant. But their letters continue to fly back and forth.

3/10 Dexter's career in television seems to be taking off, but, as they move into the early 1990s, Emma is still wondering what to do with her life - a dilemma not eased by Dexter's endless parade of girlfriends.

4/10 Alcohol is beginning to take over Dexter's life, but the frenzied world of media partying seems to need that kind of fuel. His old friend Emma has qualified as a teacher and has begun to shake off her romantic feelings for Dex.

5/10 Emma has bought a flat with her boyfriend Ian, and is drifting away from Dexter and his drug-fuelled lifestyle. Can their friendship bridge the difference between their worlds?

6/10 It is now 1996 and the two friends have not spoken to each other since a painfully acrimonious evening the previous summer when Emma found herself admitting that she no longer liked Dexter very much. In the meantime her teaching career is surging ahead while Dexter is being edged into the graveyard slots of TV presenting.

7/10 Dexter has fallen in love, a fact which he feels compensates for his almost negligible career in television. Meanwhile his old friend Emma has quit her teaching job and secured a small advance to write her first book. Their friendship has deteriorated to a functional acquaintanceship.

8/10 Dexter and Sylvie have got married and embarked on their new life together, and Emma is quietly becoming a success in the world of children's fiction. They are back in touch but their worlds are miles apart.

9/10 Emma and Dexter have surrendered to their desire to be together, and while ostensibly maintaining separate flats they are living at Dexter's old bachelor pad, trying for a baby and house hunting. The pressure is on.

10/10 Seventeen years after the one night they spent together in 1988, memories of that fateful day are still strong - perhaps even stronger, given the events that have shaped and changed their lives for ever.

Type : mpeg 1 layer III
Bitrate : 128
Mode : stereo
Frequency : 44100 Hz
Length : 02:15:02
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Source : iPlayer

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