Description

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS POPULAR NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2014

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

Publisher Review

Adrian Mole meets Mary Poppins mashed up in literary north London . . . Enormous fun * Bookseller * The funniest new writer to arrive in years -- Andrew O'Hagan Like a 1980s Mary Poppins with a sense of humour * Stylist * Even if Adrian Mole wrote about the Primrose Hill set, it wouldn't be as funny and absorbing as Love, Nina * Psychologies * The snippets of dialogue and vingettes evoke the characters and atmosphere brilliantly . . . Funny, sharp * Evening Standard * Funny, warm, life-affirming and accutely well-observed, Love, Nina is a gift that will keep on giving . . . A hoot * Metro * Breezy, sophisticated, hilarious, rude and aching with sweetness: Love, Nina might be the most charming book I've ever read -- Maria Semple, author of 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette' I loved this book. What a beady eye she has for domestic life, and how deliciously fresh and funny she is - a real discovery. -- Deborah Moggach, author of 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' Last year, we had Roger Mortimer's splendidly bufferish Dear Lupin: Letters to a Wayward Son. Love, Nina - funny, quirky, vivid and touching - is every bit its equal * Daily Mail (Book of the Week) * I adored this book, and could quote from it forever. It's real, odd, life-affirming, sharp, loving, and contains more than one reference to Arsenal FC -- Nick Hornby * The Believer *