Krátce po rozvodu rodičů se devítiletá Lizzie, její sestra, mladší bratr a fenka labradora namísto Londýna ocitají v mrňavé nehostinné vesnici v Leicestershire 70. let 20. století. Jejich matka se totiž rozhodla na venkově hledat útočiště pro svůj smutek a naštvanost na sebe i celý svět. Není divu, že se brzy začne utápět v alkoholu, psát cynické divadelní hry a domácí práce poněkud zanedbávat… Děti však nelení a začnou mezi muži v okolí hledat vhodného „Muže ke kormidlu“, aby jejich život nabral opět správný kurz.
Román S láskou, Nina nás přivádí do anglické intelektuální rodiny v 80. letech 20. století. Autorka Nina Stibbeová čerpá ze své vlastní zkušenosti, kdy se jako mladá a nezkušená dívka stala chůvou v rodině Mary-Kay Wilmersové, která je známá editorka London Review of Books. Pečovala o dva syny Mary-Kay a sžívala se s poněkud zvláštní rodinnou situací, názory, poznávala zde nové lidi, především z okruhu tehdejší literární a filmové elity. Dopisy, adresované její sestře Viky, nás vtahují do zcela obyčejného života a každodenních radostí i strastí, jež jsou součástí mnoha podobných rodin. Ukazují nám také samotný vývoj autorky, ze které se postupem času stává samostatná žena, pevně rozhodnutá vystudovat literaturu.
Lizzie Vogel's story continues in Paradise Lodge, the brilliantly comic sequel to Nina Stibbe's hilarious Man at the Helm. 'LOVE it! Instant classic - funny, wise, touching, entirely delightful' MARIAN KEYES ***** Working in a care home is not really a suitable job for a schoolgirl but 15-year-old Lizzie Vogel went for it. It just seemed too exhausting to commit to being a full-time girlfriend or a punk (it is the 1970s after all), plus she 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 residents, Paradise Lodge's cast of staff and helpers 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 tears in between. LIZZIE'S STORY CONTINUES IN REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL! ***** 'The one problem with reviewing Stibbe is that I just want to quote entire pages: it's all so brilliant' THE I 'Stibbe looks at another chapter of her life through the prism of her trademark deadpan, acutely observed humour' STYLIST 'A dollop of nostalgia and very British humour' GLAMOUR NINA STIBBE'S NEW NOVEL ONE DAY I SHALL ASTONISH THE WORLD IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW
In 1982, 20-year-old Nina Stibbe moved to London to work as a nanny to two opinionated and lively young boys. In frequent letters home to her sister, Nina described her trials and triumphs.
"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."--Publisher
From the author of Love, Nina - a hilarious ode to the joys and insanities of the most wonderful time of the year Every family has its Christmas traditions and memories, and Nina Stibbe's is no exception. From her kitchen-phobic mother's annual obsession with roasting the perfect turkey (an elusive dream to this day) to the quest for a perfect teacher gift (memorable for all the wrong reasons); from the tragic Christmas tree ("is it meant to look like that?") to the acceptable formula for thank-you letters (must include Health Inquiry and Interesting Comment), Nina Stibbe captures all that is magical and maddening about the holidays.
'When people in the village heard I was about to start working in the city they tried to unsettle me with tales of woe. The sun, blotted out by the tall buildings, couldn't shine and the rain was poisoned by the toxic fumes that poured from the sock factories. My skin would be covered in pimples from the hell of it all'So begins a young woman's journey to adulthood. Lizzie Vogel leaves her alcoholic, novel-writing mother and heads for Leicester to work for a racist, barely competent dentist obsessed with joining the freemasons.Soon Lizzie is heading reluctantly, if at top speed, into the murky depths of adult life: where her driving instructor becomes her best friend; her first boyfriend prefers birdwatching to sex and where independence for a teenage girl might just be another word for loneliness.In Reasons to Be Cheerful Nina Stibbe shows her extraordinary gift for illuminating the vital details which make us human. She is that rare writer who makes us laugh whilst reminding us of the joy, and the pain, of being alive.
