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Went to London, Took the Dog

The Diary of a 60-Year-Old Runaway
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( 1,519 ratings, 236 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Twenty years after leaving London, Nina Stibbe returns to the city with her dog Peggy, lodging in the home of writer Deborah Moggach in Camden for a year-long sabbatical. This memoir chronicles Nina’s humorous and insightful adventures as she navigates city life, her son’s online dating, local politics at the pool, and everyday tasks like watering the garden and defrosting pies. It is a tender and amusing diary of a woman embracing adulthood in a city she once called home.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers who enjoy witty, personal memoirs with a strong narrative voice, particularly fans of contemporary British literature and those who appreciate a blend of humour and emotional depth. Lovers of diaries, London life stories, and character-driven anecdotes will find it a compelling and delightful read.

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Ten years after the publication of the prize-winning Love, Nina comes the author’s diary of her return to London in her sixty-first year.

Ten years after the publication of the prize-winning Love, Nina comes the author's diary of her return to London in her sixty-first year.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

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

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised by acclaimed authors such as Bonnie Garmus, David Nicholls, and Marian Keyes, this memoir is celebrated for its sharp wit, vulnerability, and heartfelt humour. Reviewers commend Nina’s unique comic voice and keen observations, describing the book as "painfully funny, but also deeply moving" and "the reading equivalent of getting the giggles in the back row of a school assembly." Comparisons to Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole highlight its charm and relatable wit.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781035025299

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 02 November 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 34.0mm

Width: 135.0mm

Height: 206.0mm

Weight: 404g

Pages: 352

About the Author

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.

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