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
04/18/2025
National Book Award-winning British novelist Stibbe (One Day I Shall Astonish the World) shares experiences from her return to London at age 60, after 40 years away. She had been raising a family in Cornwall, England, but now that her two children are at university, she decides she needs an "adult gap year" as she reexamines her life and her relationship with her partner. As Stibbe copes with symptoms of menopause and decisions about her future, her adventures are recounted in diary form with frank humor. She rents a room in London from another novelist, Deborah Moggach, and moves in along with her beloved cockapoo Peggy. While based in London for about a year (2022 to early 2023), she travels around England and Scotland to literary festivals, reconnecting with old friends, many of them also authors or literary-world figures. Reading this memoir is like having a little window into British literary life with Stibbe's wry, honest voice sharing her adventures with readers. VERDICT Relating the challenges of aging and the joys of old friendships and new experiences, this memoir is a lovely addition to all collections.—Caren Nichter
2025-02-01
A sabbatical diary.
As a younger woman, the author nannied for a glamorous media couple living on Gloucester Crescent, an address made famous by Alan Bennett’s memoirThe Lady in the Van. There, as an ingenue, she mingled with the literati and wrote a series of letters to her sister, comically unaware of her milieu.Love, Nina was widely acclaimed and adapted for TV by Nick Hornby. Now, 20 years, two children, and a failing marriage later, she revisits the scene. No surprise: Things have changed. We are still treated to celebrity sightings and pub quizzes with Nick. We visit literary festivals and her children, now at university in London, and meet her playwright landlord, busily producingThe Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Since this is a diary, we get the passing scene: The queen dies, and Liz Truss comes and goes as prime minister; there are more personal concerns such as chicken bones in the street, the placement of mats in a Pilates class, the dangers of the wrong swimming lane, incontinence, and questions like “Why is lipstick just for women?” The first half of the book has a chirpy charm, and we root for a 60-year-old woman, albeit a rather privileged and self-regarding one, seeking her place in the world. We get tips on hand lotion and marmalade and lovely pottery from the Forest of Dean. And, since this is a sabbatical after all, she eventually returns to her husband in Cornwall, sadly resigned to being too old and too poor to start again in London. In shorter form, perhaps selected entries, the book is harmless. However, we’ve signed on for the whole year, and the year grows long.
Chatter for the chattering class.
