It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Reasons to be Cheerful

Reasons to be Cheerful

Winner of the 2019 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction

Summary

Lizzie Vogel's story continues in Reasons to be Cheerful, the brilliantly comic sequel to Nina Stibbe's hilarious books Man at the Helm and Paradise Lodge.

WINNER OF THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION
WINNER OF THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE

'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 her loo) or self-respect (surely only actual athletes get fungal foot infections?) she's still got a lot more growing up to do.

From the bestselling author of Love, Nina comes a brilliantly funny and heartbreaking story of growing up and finding the independence you might not actually want . . .

*****

'Funny, charming, odd-in-the-best-way and gorgeously uplifting! A delight from start to finish' MARIAN KEYES

'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

'Loved it! I so love Lizzie. She is brave and kind and funny and totally original' KATIE FFORDE

'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

NINA STIBBE'S NEW NOVEL ONE DAY I SHALL ASTONISH THE WORLD IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW

Reviews

  • Pitch perfect vintage comedy
    Guardian

About the author

Nina Stibbe

Nina Stibbe was born in Leicester. She is the author of two works of non-fiction - Love, Nina and An Almost Perfect Christmas - and three previous novels: Man at the Helm, Paradise Lodge, and Reasons to be Cheerful, which is the only novel to have won both the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and the Comedy Women in Print Award. Love, Nina won Non-Fiction Book of the Year and was adapted by Nick Hornby into a BBC TV series. Nina Stibbe lives in Cornwall.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more