Former actor David Nicholls writes novels with at least one eye on the big screen. Having successfully translated his debut Starter For Ten into a film, his latest novel suggests more feelgood outings to the local picture house. One Day tells the story of potential love thwarted by the disappointments of post-university existence. It begins with a drunken tryst on the night of Emma and Dexter's graduation, and each subsequent chapter visits the pair on the same day of the year as they stumble through their adult lives. While the plot might sound like a movie pitch, Nicholls is a great comic writer, and One Day's characters are so luminously rendered that they quickly assume heart-thumping significance.