Whenever I deliver a new novel, I always think: well this one is really dark,” says David Nicholls as he lists the territories his best-selling novels have mined. “Addiction, grief, depression, ...

David Nicholls is a "literary paradox". The "One Day" author has "never won a major book prize ... carving out a niche as "a poet of the mundane, like Larkin without the misanthropy".