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Love, Nina

Despatches from Family Life

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Love, Nina

By: Nina Stibbe
Narrated by: Nina Stibbe
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About this listen

In the 1980s, Nina Stibbe wrote letters home to her sister in Leicester describing her trials and triumphs as a nanny to a London family.

There’s a cat nobody likes, a visiting dog called Ted Hughes (Ted for short) and suppertime visits from a local playwright. Not to mention the two boys, their favourite football teams, and rude words, a very broad-minded mother and assorted nice chairs.

From the mystery of the unpaid milk bill and the avoidance of nuclear war to mealtime discussions on pie filler, the greats of English literature, swearing in German and sexually transmitted diseases, Love, Nina is a wonderful celebration of bad food, good company and the relative merits of Thomas Hardy and Enid Blyton.

At the age of 20, Nina Stibbe moved from Leicestershire to London to become a nanny. Later she studied at Thames Polytechnic and worked in publishing. She now lives in Cornwall with her partner and children.

©2013 Nina Stibbe (P)2013 Penguin Audio Letters & Correspondence Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence

Critic Reviews

“I adored this book, and I 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)
"Adrian Mole meets Mary Poppins mashed up in literary north London... Enormous fun” ( Bookseller)
“What a beady eye she has for domestic life, and how deliciously fresh and funny she is” (Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)
“Despatches from Family Life is the laugh-out-loud story of the trials and tribulations of a very particular family. 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)
“Nina Stibbe is the funniest new writer to arrive in years. Love, Nina is her first book - a memoir so warm, so witty and so wise, it’s like finding the friend you always deserved” (Andrew O, Hagan)
All stars
Most relevant  
I thorough enjoyed listening to this audiobook. It is beautifully narrated and laugh out loud funny.

Wonderful!

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I adored this book. I chuckled all the way through. I’ve shared it and gifted it - it’s absolutely lovely.

Brilliantly funny and true

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Loved this...such a happy bio of a time in Nina's earlier life. Cookie, crazy, innocent fun times working as nanny to literary editor MK Wilmers...with a lovely smattering of national treasure -Alan Bennett

Funny, funny, funny

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Read this when published, such a delight to hear the author read it. It’s been a few years between the reading and the listening (8? 10 years?) so a bit like hearing/reading for the first time. Delightful

Fucking love this book

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Very British sense of humour and the perfect nostalgia for a British child of the 80’s like me.
A sweet, irreverent and chucklesome look at a normal life, told through the eyes of a barefoot London Nanny, living amongst witty, clever people and artsy, literary types like ‘Bennett’. Get the version ready by the author - I love her dry delivery.

Funny and Real

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