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Went to London, Took the Dog

The Diary of a 60-Year-Old Runaway

Nina Stibbe

$39.99

Hardback

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English
Picador
13 February 2024
'Painfully funny, but also deeply moving' - Meg Mason

'Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise' - Bonnie Garmus

'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.

'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

By:  
Imprint:   Picador
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 206mm,  Width: 135mm,  Spine: 34mm
Weight:   404g
ISBN:   9781035025299
ISBN 10:   1035025299
Pages:   352
Publication Date:  
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Nina Stibbe is the author of six books. Love, Nina won the Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award at the 2014 National Book Awards, and was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year. The book was adapted by Nick Hornby for BBC Television. She is the author of four novels, all of which have been shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. Her third novel Reasons to be Cheerful (2019) is the only novel to date to have won both the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and the Comedy Women in Print Award for comic fiction. Her latest novel, One Day I Shall Astonish the World, was published in April 2022.

Reviews for Went to London, Took the Dog: The Diary of a 60-Year-Old Runaway

Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise -- Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of <i>Lessons in Chemistry</i> 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 <i>Early Morning Riser</i> Painfully funny, but also deeply moving. I never wanted it to end -- Meg Mason, author of <i>Sorrow and Bliss</i> An absurdist chronicler of a world both baffling and extraordinary . . . [a] lovely, funny-sad book * Guardian * 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 [The] most reliably entertaining of comic writers . . . pure Victoria Wood . . . Stibbe might be sad and scared and have a bad back, but I’d rather read her sad than almost anyone else happy * The Spectator * 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 <i>Empireland</i> 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 <i>Magpie Lane</i> 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 <i>Where'd You Go, Bernadette</i>


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