Nina Stibbe

I feel duped. How did this book end up on "Best Books of the Year" lists? From far away (e.g. the USA) this may seem like a quaint story about a nanny in '80s London: Mary Poppins meets Bridget Jones. But once you peel away the layer of "kids will say the darndest things", a picture emerges of a privileged stuck-up, judgmental caste. The name-dropping is inane (although probably the only reason this book ever got published), and the "quirkiness" of its protagonists is just poorly disguised show more snobbery. One could fill a PhD dissertation with all the self-validating codes and indirect slights to people outside the Bloomsbury bubble that are contained in this vapid excuse for a book. show less

Introverted Susan and extrovert Norma became friends almost by accident, thrown together professionally they realise they actually need each other. Whilst Susan marries her first serious boyfriend and drops out of college, Norma rushes from one relationship to another and and becomes an acclaimed writer. Now both middle-aged and working at the same University they rediscover their value to each other as a pandemic looms.
Every Nina Stibbe book is a joy from start to finish and this is no show more exception. The reader warms to Susan whilst getting incredibly frustrated with her passiveness and vacillates between love and hate for Norma. The skill of Stibbe is to get the reader to empathise with each character and yet laugh out loud and the absurdity and mundanity. Just a really wonderful book. show less

[This is a review I wrote in 2016]

I’ve not long finished reading Love, Nina and although I have a couple of other books in my waiting-to-review stack, I want to share this one first; not least because of the recent TV mini-series adapted by Nick Hornby which, although good, I didn’t enjoy half as much as the book.

Reading the book very close to watching the TV adaptation was a coincidence and it wasn’t until I was already half-way through the book – and half-way in love with this show more delightful family and eccentric nanny that I saw the series was about to start on BBC1. In hindsight I wish I hadn’t watched them so close together as Nick Hornby takes a bit of artistic license with the anecdotes, names are changed and the feeling of the series is quite different to the book.

Nina Stibbe was aged 20 in 1982, when she left her home in Leicestershire and went to work as a nanny to two young boys in central London. Nina had no idea how to do nanny things; how to cook, clean or how to look after children! She was so appalling at housework her employer had to employ a cleaner while she was there as well! She had no idea who the eccentrics were who called round at the house, or who this Alan Bennett was who invited himself round for dinner nearly every day… but she had a good sense of humour and a matter-of-fact nature which seem to be all the essentials she needed. Most importantly Nina was very happy in her job and loved spending time with the boys, oft-times treating them to lots of fun like an older sister might.

Nina’s employer was Mary-Kay Wilmers and her two sons, Nina’s two charges, were Sam Frears (aged 10) and Will Frears (aged 9). Various other characters that crop up in the book include Jonathan Miller, Claire Tomalin and her son, Tom, Michael Frayn, Stephen Frears (the boys’ father), Ursula Vaughan Williams, and others.

Here’s a quote of Nina’s about her nannying style, taken from her blog, The Good Nanny by Nina Stibbe

" “Then there was my child-minding style. I put Sam (aged ten and with some disabilities) into a builder’s skip for a laugh and struggled to lift him out again. I pushed him into a swimming pool because he didn’t fancy a swim and read Thomas Hardy to him pretending it was Enid Blyton. I did other things too awful to write here (things that are explained in detail in the book).
I completed nine-year-old Will’s homework for him to get it out of the way so that he could get on with a novel he was writing and taught him to draw a fake tattoo on his arm in ink and took both boys on grafitti-hunting expeditions. I pranged the car and made the boys promise on their mother’s deathbed not to tell her about it. I walked around barefoot and took them to the pub to play snooker. I smoked and swore like a trooper.” "

The book takes the form of a collection of letters Nina wrote home to her younger sister, Vic which the two sisters apparently discovered some years later in Vic’s attic, to their absolute hilarity! There’s an honesty and warmth about them, such as you will only find between two people close to each other. Nina is quite frank about what goes on in Gloucester Crescent and passes on the odd snippet of wisdom to her sister as well as exchanging recipe ideas and other tips:

“Thanks for recipe. I didn’t do it exact – too many ingredients. I’ve not done anything with more than five/six things in it so far. Plus we don’t have the right attachments or a pestle. So I did my own version: Cooked chicken, almond flakes, curry powder and parsley, plus two packs Bachelor’s savoury rice.”

This is by far and away one of my favourite books that I’ve read so far this year and it’s one I will definitely re-read when I need some light humour, a good laugh, or even a bit of a pick-me-up. I’ve already recommended it to customers and it’s had a good response. It’s warm, endearing, refreshingly candid and hilariously naive and I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying it as a light-hearted read. In fact, if you haven’t got your beach reads for the summer sorted yet then add this one to your stack. show less

I've had this book on my shelf for a long time. The time finally came to try it and either like it or get rid of it.
I must have read about the plot to be interested enough to buy all those years ago (from a used-books shop? a library book sale?), but when I pulled it down off the shelf earlier this month, I was expecting a murder mystery. I didn't read the plot summary before starting. (I often like to start a book cold, especially one that's been hanging around for years waiting for the show more right time to be read.)
So ... it's not a murder mystery. Rather, it's a story about 10-year-old Lizzie Vogel and her sister (there's a younger brother, too, but he's rarely seen or talked about), and their attempts to find a new husband for their just-divorced mother -- a new man at the helm for their family.
What I like best about this novel is the just-right perspective of how a child is aware, but doesn't fully comprehend, the lives of the adults around her or how the world works.
For example, the sisters realize that their mother is moody, but picking up her prescription drugs is just another errand that they sometimes need to do. And for example, they see nothing wrong with their plan to find a new husband for their mother by making a list of all the possible men in the village and writing letters to them, as if written by her, inviting them over to the house.
The other thing I like a lot are the humorous, quirky asides. Like the story of Bufo the frog puppet, and how that younger brother, Jack, insists that he can't hear anything if his eyes are closed.
The story takes a turn when the family's "income" suffers from the ex-husband's financial downturn, but that leads to a refreshing revival for confidence and love.
What a nice surprise this novel was for me ... and proof that some books can justify the space they've occupied on your shelves for years. show less