‘Painfully funny, but also deeply moving’ – Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss

What does it mean to start again at sixty?

Nina Stibbe is surprised to find herself asking this question as she leaves married life behind in Cornwall and heads back to London after twenty years away for what she calls ‘a year-long sabbatical’.

She takes up lodgings at the house of writer Deborah Moggach, unprepared for how she, and the city, has changed and now wondering whether freedom is all it’s cracked up to be . . .

As heard on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour

‘The true heir to Sue Townsend’ – Caitlin Moran

‘An utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend’ – Marian Keyes

‘Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise’ – Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry

‘No one writes heartbreak more hilariously, or hilarity more heartbreakingly’ – Katherine Heiny

‘So sharp and funny, blissfully gossipy, enviably well-observed . . . I loved it’ – India Knight

‘A unique comic voice, endlessly funny’ – David Nicholls

Twenty years after leaving London, Nina Stibbe is back in town with her dog, Peggy. Together they take up lodging in the house of writer Deborah (Debby) Moggach in Camden for ‘a year-long sabbatical’. It’s a break from married life back in Cornwall, or even perhaps a fresh start altogether.

Debby does not have many demands – only to water the garden, watch for toads, and defrost the odd pie – so Nina is free to explore the city she once called home. Between scrutinising her son’s online dating developments, navigating the politics of the local pool, and taking detergent advice at the laundrette, this diary of a sixty-year-old runaway reunites us with the inimitable voice of Love, Nina, as the writer becomes, as she puts it, ‘a proper adult’ at last.

As heard on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour

‘An utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend’ – Marian Keyes

‘No one writes heartbreak more hilariously, or hilarity more heartbreakingly’ – Katherine Heiny

‘So sharp and funny, blissfully gossipy, enviably well-observed . . . I loved it’ – India Knight

‘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

‘Wonderful . . . Her best yet’ Kathy Burke

‘I loved it so SO much! Funnier than ever but with a new depth and maturity’ Marian Keyes
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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.
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‘A lovingly observed testament to the complexities and profundities of female friendship’ Elizabeth Day

‘Nina Stibbe is not just very funny but absolutely life-affirming’ Jenny Colgan

‘Stibbe writes some of the best-turned comic sentences in contemporary writing. Like Susan, she makes it look easier than it must be’ Sunday Times

‘Nina Stibbe is one of our funniest novelists – it’s time to take her seriously’ Daily Telegraph

‘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

‘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

WINNER OF THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION
WINNER OF THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE

‘I read all of Reasons To Be Cheerful in one glorious gulp’ CAITLIN MORAN

*****

Teenager Lizzie Vogel has a new job as a dental assistant. This is not as glamorous as it sounds.

At least it means mostly getting away from her alcoholic, nymphomaniacal, novel-writing mother. But, if Lizzie thinks being independent means sex with her boyfriend (he prefers bird-watching), strict boundaries (her boss keeps using her loo) or self-respect (surely only actual athletes get fungal foot infections?) she’s still got a lot more growing up to do.

From the bestselling author of Love, Nina comes a brilliantly funny and heartbreaking story of growing up and finding the independence you might not actually want . . .

*****

‘Funny, charming, odd-in-the-best-way and gorgeously uplifting! A delight from start to finish’ MARIAN KEYES

‘Pitch perfect vintage comedy’ GUARDIAN

‘Lives up to its title’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Joyful. Stibbe’s comedy probes what it means to become an adult’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Loved it! I so love Lizzie. She is brave and kind and funny and totally original’ KATIE FFORDE

‘Comedy gold . . . Reasons To Be Cheerful is just the read you need right now’ STYLIST

‘Nina Stibbe is an author of such effortless wit that she could turn a shopping list into a bestseller’ WOMEN AND HOME

NINA STIBBE’S NEW NOVEL ONE DAY I SHALL ASTONISH THE WORLD IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW

A laugh-out-loud true story of the trials and tribulations of being a live-in nanny in 1980s London and inspired a major TV series starring Helena Bonham Carter.

*****

In 1982 Nina Stibbe, a 20-year-old from Leicester, moved to London to work as a nanny for a very particular family. It was a perfect match: Nina had no idea how to cook, look after children or who the weirdos were who called round. And the family, busy discussing such arcane subjects as how to swear in German or the merits (or otherwise) of turkey mince, were delighted by her lack of skills.

Love, Nina is the collection of letters she wrote home gloriously describing her ‘domestic’ life, the unpredictable houseguests and the cat everyone loved to hate.

*****

‘I adored this book and could quote from it forever’ Nick Hornby

‘Funny and sharp: no book this year has made me laugh more’ John Lanchester, Guardian

‘The funniest book I’ve read in ages’ Sunday Times

‘An unassuming comic genius’ Independent