David Nicholls | Signed First Editions

About David Nicholls

David Nicholls (born 1966) is a British novelist, screenwriter, and one of the most acclaimed chroniclers of modern love and longing. Best known for his bestselling novel One D (2009), Nicholls combines humour, heartbreak, and acute social observation to portray the complexities of relationships and the passage of time. Born in Hampshire, England, he studied drama at the University of Bristol and trained as an actor before turning to writing. His early experience in theatre and television helped shape his gift for dialogue and character, qualities that make his novels both cinematic and deeply human.

Nicholls first gained attention with his debut novel Starter for Ten (2003), a coming-of-age comedy set against the backdrop of the 1980s British quiz show University Challenge. It was followed by The Understudy (2005), a sharp, bittersweet exploration of ambition and failure. But it was One Day that made him an international literary star. The novel follows the intertwined lives of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew over twenty years, capturing the rhythms of friendship, love, and missed opportunity with warmth and emotional precision. It sold millions of copies, was translated into dozens of languages, and adapted into a major film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, later reimagined as a 2024 Netflix series that reintroduced the story to a new generation.

Nicholls has continued to explore themes of connection, regret, and the fragile beauty of everyday life in subsequent novels. Us (2014), longlisted for the Booker Prize, tells the story of a husband trying to save his marriage during a family trip across Europe, while Sweet Sorrow (2019) returns to the emotional intensity of first love and the transformative power of youth and art. In 2024, Nicholls released You Are Here, a moving story of two strangers finding companionship on a long walk through the English countryside—hailed as one of his most tender and mature works.

Alongside his fiction, Nicholls has enjoyed a distinguished career as a screenwriter, adapting classics such as Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd for television and film, and co-writing the acclaimed adaptation of Patrick Melrose. His ability to blend wit with emotional truth has made him one of Britain’s most beloved storytellers. As of 2025, David Nicholls continues to write novels and screenplays that reflect the hopes, failings, and quiet triumphs of ordinary lives, always with his signature mix of tenderness, irony, and insight.