Nina Stibbe

In 1982 Nina Stibbe, a 20-year-old from Leicester, moved to London to work as a nanny for a very particular family. It was a perfect match: Nina had no idea how to cook, look after children or who the weirdos were who called round.

Being a nanny is great. Not like a job really, just like living in someone else's life. Today before breakfast Sam had to empty the dishwasher and Will had to feed the cat. Sam: I hate emptying the dishwasher. MK: We all do, that's why we take turns. Will: I hate the cat. MK: We all do, that's why we take turns. 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.

This is the story of Lizzie Vogel, a 15 year old girl who finds herself working in an old people's home in Leicestershire in the 1970s. The place is in chaos and it's not really a suitable job for a schoolgirl: she'd only gone for the job because she wanted a new phase and it seemed too exhausting to commit to being a full-time girlfriend or a punk. Lizzie 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 patients, Paradise Lodge's cast of staff and helpers, from the assertively shy Nurse who only communicates through little grunts to the son of the Chinese takeaway manager who's renowned for his erotic handholding techniques, 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 the tears, in between.

Nina Stibbeová v 80. letech pracovala jako chůva dvou chlapců v Londýnské intelektuální rodině a z dopisů, které psala domů své sestře Viky, vznikla tato kniha. Popisuje zážitky ze trochu zvláštní rodiny, ve které zažívala zkoušky i výhry, vtipné i vážné situace. Jsme také svědky samotného vývoje autorky, ze které se postupem času stává samostatná žena, pevně rozhodnutá vystudovat literaturu.

Nagyszerű, kacagtató, lélekemelő. Nem emlékszem, nevettem-e valaha ennyit.” The Observer Szüleik válása után a kilencéves Lizzie Vogel, a nővérével és az öccsével vidékre költözik, egy őket meglehetősen ellenségesen fogadó faluba. Anyjuk szinte azonnal inni kezd, és kényszeresen drámákat ír, amivel nem nyeri el a falubeliek tetszését – már amúgy is gyanús nekik a csinos, vonzó, elvált asszony. Lizzie és a nővére nagyon szeretne beilleszkedni, ezért kitervelik, hogy titokban meghívnak minden arra alkalmas (és nem alkalmas) férfit, abban a reményben, hogy valamelyikük majd csak feleségül veszi az anyjukat… „Klasszikus vígjáték. Minden sora kacagtató.” The Times „Ha valakinek tetszett a Szeretettel, Nina, imádni fogja ezt a nagyszerű regényt is.” India Knight „Soha ennyire még nem tetszett könyv.” Lisa Jewell