Netflix hit hurls novel back into bestseller list for first time in over a decade

The book "One Day", originally published in 2009, has shot back into The Sunday Times bestseller list for the first time in over a decade after the release of the Netflix adaptation.

Fans of the new One Day TV version have been so taken by it they've been rushing out to buy the actual book, sending it to ninth place in the fiction paperback section of the book chart.

The novel by David Nicholls tells the story of friends Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew, who meet for the first time on 15 July 1988, the day of their graduation from the University of Edinburgh. 

Each chapter covers Emma and Dexter's lives on the same day for 20 years as they grow, change, move together and apart throughout the decades.

In 2010, "One Day" was named Popular Fiction Book of the Year at the UK's annual Galaxy National Book Awards ceremony and was later given the accolade of Galaxy Book of the Year.

Following the 2011 movie adaptation of One Day, which starred Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, the Netflix version sees The White Lotus season 2 star Leo Woodall and This is Going To Hurt's Ambika Mod take on the beloved roles of Dexter and Emma.

It's hard to imagine anyone else playing Dexter and Emma other than Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod. However, this could have been a very different story as Ambika admitted that she nearly turned down the role.

In an interview with BBC Women’s Hour, she revealed that when the audition for Emma came through, she couldn't see herself playing a romantic lead.

She said: "I honestly just didn’t see myself playing a romantic lead. You don’t see a lot of brown women on screen being the romantic lead. You never see women like that in that position. It took well into the process and into filming for me to be like, ‘Oh yeah, I am this character.'"

One Day is available to stream worldwide on Netflix.