Böcker av Nina Stibbe

From the prize-winning author of Reasons to be Cheerful comes a story about the ebb and flow of female friendship over half a lifetime'A true gift of a novel, I utterly adored it. For as long as I could make it last, the world just felt a bit nicer' Meg Mason'Stibbe turns out more perfect, sharp, unique sentences than anyone else' Caitlin Moran'Stibbe has an extraordinary gift' Marian Keyes'Nina Stibbe makes being funny look easy, but that's just because she's very, very good at it' Clare Chambers________________________________________________Susan and Norma have been best friends for years, at first thrust together by force of circumstance (a job at The Pin Cushion, a haberdashery shop in 1990s Leicestershire) and then by force of character (neither being particularly inclined to make friends with anyone else). But now, thirty years later, faced with a husband seeking immortality and Norma out of reach on a wave of professional glory, Susan begins to wonder whether she has made the right choices about life, love, work, and, most importantly, friendship. Nina Stibbe's new novel is the story of the wonderful and sometimes surprising path of friendship: from its conspiratorial beginnings, along its irritating wrong turns, to its final gratifying destination. _________________________________________________'Nina Stibbe's very funny novels are full of charm, and her latest brilliantly captures the mordant humour of British suburban life' Evening Standard'I absolutely loved every single page of it! I honestly think it's the funniest thing she's ever written' Garth Jennings'I'm not surprised to see that Stibbe's writing has been compared to Jane Austen's' Emma Healey'I am already longing for Nina Stibbe's next book' Observer'Stibbe is one of the all-time greats' Daisy Buchanan'Clever and funny, it takes a sharp look at the intricacies of marriage, friendship, work and driving. As with all Stibbe's writing there is a pleasingly perfect balance of wisdom with jokes' Cathy Rentzenbrink 'Nina Stibbe is not just very funny but absolutely life-affirming' Jenny Colgan'For beautifully funny and well-observed comic writing, Nina Stibbe is your go-to author. In her latest release, a tale of lifelong friendship between Susan and Norma, she explores the mistakes, rivalries and love we all experience in life' Stylist'One of the great comic writers of our time' Irish Times

Man at the Helm, the debut novel from Nina Stibbe - the much-loved author of Love, Nina - is a wildly comic, brilliantly sharp-eyed novel about the horrors of being an attractive divorc e in an English village in the 1970s, and a family's fall from grace . . .My sister and I and our little brother were born (in that order) into a very good situation and apart from the odd new thing life was humdrum and comfortable until an evening in 1970 when my mother listened in to my father's phone call and ended up blowing her nose on a tea towel - a thing she'd only have done in an absolute emergency.Not long after her parents' separation, heralded by an awkward scene involving a wet Daily Telegraph and a pan of cold eggs, nine-year-old Lizzie Vogel, her sister and little brother and their now divorc e mother are packed off to a small, slightly hostile village in the English countryside. Their mother is all alone, only thirty-one years of age, with three young children and a Labrador. It is no wonder, when you put it like that, that she becomes a menace and a drunk. And a playwright. Worried about the bad playwriting - though more about becoming wards of court and being sent to the infamous Crescent Home for Children - Lizzie and her sister decide to contact, by letter, suitable men in the area. In order to stave off the local social worker they urgently need to find a new Man at the Helm.'All hail a book that's funny!' Barbara Trapido'[A] joyous read, full of wit and charm . . . I am already longing for Nina Stibbe's next book' Observer'Nine-year-old Lizzie (our narrator) is the perfect conduit for her creator, just the right mixture of childhood innocence and incredulity for the necessary deadpan delivery of Stibbe's particular brand of comedy. Read it and be charmed' Independent'A beguilingly comic blend of naivety and precociousness' Sunday Times

This is the story of Lizzie Vogel, a 15 year old girl who finds herself working in an old people's home in Leicestershire in the 1970s. The place is in chaos and it's not really a suitable job for a schoolgirl: she'd only gone for the job because she wanted a new phase and it seemed too exhausting to commit to being a full-time girlfriend or a punk. Lizzie has some knowledge of old people (they're not suited to granary bread, and you mustn't compare them to toddlers) but she doesn't know there's a right way to get someone out of the bath, or what to do when someone dies. When a rival old people's home with better parking and daily chairobics threatens to take all their patients, Paradise Lodge's cast of staff and helpers, from the assertively shy Nurse who only communicates through little grunts to the son of the Chinese takeaway manager who's renowned for his erotic handholding techniques, have to come together to save the home before it's too late. From the bestselling author of Love, Nina comes a story of being very young, and very old, and the laughter, and the tears, in between.

* * * WINNER OF THE 2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS POPULAR NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR * * * I adored this book, and I could quote from it forever. Its real, odd, life-affirming, sharp, loving, and contains more than one reference to Arsenal FC Nick Hornby,The Believer Adrian Mole meets Mary Poppins mashed up in literary north London . . . Enormous fun Bookseller What a beady eye she has for domestic life, and how deliciously fresh and funny she is Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Nina Stibbes Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life is the laugh-out-loud story of the trials and tribulations of a very particular family. In the 1980s Nina Stibbe wrote letters home to her sister in Leicester describing her trials and triumphs as a nanny to a London family. Theres a cat nobody likes, a visiting dog called Ted Hughes (Ted for short) and suppertime visits from a local playwright. Not to mention the two boys, their favourite football teams, and rude words, a very broad-minded mother and assorted nice chairs. From the mystery of the unpaid milk bill and the avoidance of nuclear war to mealtime discussions on pie filler, the greats of English literature, swearing in German and sexually transmitted diseases, Love, Nina is a wonderful celebration of bad food, good company and the relative merits of Thomas Hardy and Enid Blyton. Breezy, sophisticated, hilarious, rude and aching with sweetness: Love, Nina might be the most charming book Ive ever read Maria Semple, author of Whered You Go, Bernadette Nina Stibbe is the funniest new writer to arrive in years. Love, Nina is her first book - a memoir so warm, so witty and so wise, its like finding the friend you always deserved Andrew OHagan At the age of 20 Nina Stibbe moved from Leicestershire to London to become a nanny. Later she studied at Thames Polytechnic and worked in publishing. In 2014 her debut novel Man at the Helm was published. Love, Nina won the 2014 National Book Awards for Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year. She now lives in Cornwall with her partner and children.