Description

From the beloved writer Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina, a warm and funny story of a woman changing her life at sixty.

‘A unique comic voice, endlessly funny’ – David Nicholls, author of One Day

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

What does it mean to start again at sixty?

In Went to London, Took the Dog, 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 . . .

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

‘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

Publisher Review

Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise — Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry A unique comic voice, endlessly funny. Nina makes me laugh so much — David Nicholls No one writes heartbreak more hilariously, or hilarity more heartbreakingly. No one does a better job of making the ordinary phenomenal — Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning Riser Painfully funny, but also deeply moving. I never wanted it to end — Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss What an utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend. I’m so sad it’s over — Marian Keyes So sharp and funny, blissfully gossipy, enviably well-observed – it’s like she has X-ray vision when it comes to human beings. I couldn’t stop reading it. I wish it were twice as long. I loved it — India Knight I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a diary so much since I read Adrian Mole for the first time — Daisy Buchanan Funny, warm, enlightening. The reading equivalent of getting the giggles in the back row of a school assembly — Santham Sanghera, author of Empireland I loved this book. Stibbe’s joyful midlife observations, her nods to the wonders and absurdities of the everyday, are so life-affirming. I started seeing pockets of humour in my own ordinary days – and actually felt bereft when I turned the last page — Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane Stibbe turns out more perfect, sharp, unique sentences than anyone else — Caitlin Moran One of the most hilarious, insightful, addictive writers working today — Jenny Colgan Like spending an endless afternoon in the most sparkling company but without any pressure to sparkle back — Frank Cottrell-Boyce Nina Stibbe makes being funny look easy, but that’s just because she’s very, very good at it — Clare Chambers One of the great comic writers of our time * Irish Times * Stibbe is an unassuming comic genius * Independent * 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 The funniest new writer to arrive in years — Andrew O’Hagan