Stibbe’s heroine is back to star in a genuinely funny and touching tale

Nina Stibbe: complicated emotions beneath deadpan observations

FICTION: Reasons to be Cheerful, By Nina Stibbe, Penguin Viking, €15

Lizzie Vogel is flying the nest. The heroine of Nina Stibbe’s first two novels is now 18, and after her experiences as an auxiliary nurse in an old people’s home (documented in Stibbe’s wonderful Paradise Lodge) and a brief stint in a garden centre, she has a job as a dental surgery assistant. She has been given the job despite her total ...