It's 1985 and Brian Jackson has arrived at university with a burning ambition - to make it onto TV's foremost general knowledge quiz. But no sooner has he embarked on 'The Challenge' than he finds himself falling hopelessly in love with his teammate, the beautiful and charismatic would-be actress, Alice Harbinson. When Alice fails to fall for his slightly over-eager charms, Brian comes up with a foolproof plan to capture her heart once and for all. He's going to win the game, at any cost, because - after all - everyone knows that what a woman really wants from a man is a comprehensive grasp of general knowledge...Starter for Ten is a comedy about love, class, growing-up and the all-important difference between knowledge and wisdom. Are you up to the challenge of the funniest novel in years?
A bestselling novelist and BAFTA-nominated screenwriter British author David Nicholls trained as an actor before turning to writing full-time. He is best-known for the globally bestselling love story One Day, now a major Netflix adaptation, charting the lives of two people over 20 years on the same day, which won the 2010 Galaxy Book of the Year Award. Subsequently made into a hit film, the book has sold over five million copies and been translated into forty languages. David Nicholls other novels include Starter for Ten, The Understudy and Us. In 2018 he received widespread critical acclaim for his adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose novels for a five-part television series. In 2024 he published You Are Here.