My Oxford Year

February 12, 2018
In Whelan’s enjoyable debut, American grad student Ella Durran seems to have it all—not only is she achieving her teenage dream of attending Oxford University for one year on a Rhodes Scholarship, but she’s doing so while working remotely on the presidential campaign of a female politician she idolizes. The only dark cloud on her horizon is the annoying presence of her English professor, Jamie Davenport. They meet when he almost runs her over with his car; later, he accidentally spills condiments all over the front of her blouse. Things go rapidly downhill from there. Naturally, Ella falls in love with Jamie, who is not only smart and sensitive but also owns a Victorian townhouse with a ballroom and drives an Aston-Martin convertible. Ella spends her days working on her dissertation on Middlemarch and her nights being romanced by Jamie. But things take a turn for the tragic, and Ella is forced to choose between her commitment to her original dream and contemplating a new future that involves much personal risk and sacrifice. The novel is so predictably plotted that the reader will not be surprised by the road Ella ultimately chooses. But fans of One Day and Me Before You will still be charmed by this warm story and Ella and Jamie’s romance.