Nina Stibbe

An achingly funny tale of a teenager falling in love with the wrong person, in 1970s Leicestershire 18 year old Lizzie Vogel finds herself a new job in a dentist's surgery after answering a classified advert in the Leicester Mercury for a 'mature lady with a strong interest in dental issues'. Working for an eccentric dental surgeon who's obsessed with becoming a Freemason, Lizzie's life is uneventful, until Andy Nicolello turns up one day to deliver a crown. Lizzie seizes her chance to find love, and soon begins calling him her boyfriend even though they have never so much as kissed or even sat next to each other on the sofa. But Andy doesn't turn out to be quite what he seems... Reasons to be Cheerful is a painfully funny account of life as a hapless teenager in 1970s Leicestershire from the bestselling author of Love, Nina, Man at the Helm and Paradise Lodge.

Reasons to Be Cheerful

'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.

Mark

Nadine 

Just what I needed as the school year careens to an end - something light and funny in a wry way.

Amanda S

'Funny, charming, odd-in-the-best-way and gorgeously uplifting! A delight from start to finish' Marian Keyes 'I read all of Reasons To Be Cheerful in one glorious gulp' Caitlin Moran ____________________________________ Teenager Lizzie Vogel has a new job as a dental assistant. This is not as glamorous as it sounds. At least it means mostly getting away from her alcoholic, nymphomaniacal, novel-writing mother. But, if Lizzie thinks being independent means sex with her boyfriend (he prefers bird-watching), strict boundaries (her boss keeps using herloo) or self-respect (surely only actual athletes get fungal foot infections?) she's still got a lot more growing up to do. ______________________________________ LONGLISTED FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE 'This made me laugh and broke my heart . . . Stibbe is one of the all time greats' Daisy Buchanan 'Stibbe is one of the great comic writers of our time' Irish Times 'Pitch perfect vintage comedy' Guardian 'Lives up to its title' Sunday Times 'Joyful. Stibbe's comedy probes what it means to become an adult' Daily Telegraph 'The literary love child of Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett...this is pure laughing gas' Mail on Sunday 'Loved it! I so love Lizzie. She is brave and kind and funny and totally original . . . I couldn't have liked it more (as I think Noel Coward said.)' Katie Fforde 'Another great from Nina Stibbe' Kathy Burke 'Very few writers can find the delicate balance between heartbreak and hilarity like Nina Stibbe' Red Magazine 'Comedy gold . . . Reasons To Be Cheerful is just the read you need right now' Stylist 'Nina Stibbe is an author of such effortless wit that she could turn a shopping list into a bestseller' Women and Home

Reasons to Be Cheerful

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