Went to London, Took the Dog: The Diary of a 60-Year-Old Runaway

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From the beloved writer Nina Stibbe, a warm and funny story of a woman changing her life at 60. 'A unique comic voice, endlessly funny' - David Nicholls, author of One Day 'Painfully funny, but also deeply moving' - Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss What does it mean to start again at sixty Nina Stibbe is surprised to find herself asking this question as she leaves married life behind in Cornwall and heads back to London after twenty years away for what she calls 'a year-long sabbatical'. She takes up lodgings at the house of writer Deborah Moggach, unprepared for how she, and the city, has changed and now wondering whether freedom is all it's cracked up to be . . . As heard on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour 'An utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend' - Marian Keyes 'Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise' Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry '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

Reviews

Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise -- Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
A unique comic voice, endlessly funny. Nina makes me laugh so much -- David Nicholls
No one writes heartbreak more hilariously, or hilarity more heartbreakingly. No one does a better job of making the ordinary phenomenal -- Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning Riser
Painfully funny, but also deeply moving. I never wanted it to end -- Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss
What an utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend. I'm so sad it's over -- Marian Keyes
So sharp and funny, blissfully gossipy, enviably well-observed its like she has X-ray vision when it comes to human beings. I couldnt stop reading it. I wish it were twice as long. I loved it -- India Knight
I dont think Ive enjoyed a diary so much since I read Adrian Mole for the first time -- Daisy Buchanan
Funny, warm, enlightening. The reading equivalent of getting the giggles in the back row of a school assembly -- Santham Sanghera, author of Empireland
I loved this book. Stibbes joyful midlife observations, her nods to the wonders and absurdities of the everyday, are so life-affirming. I started seeing pockets of humour in my own ordinary days - and actually felt bereft when I turned the last page -- Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane
Stibbe turns out more perfect, sharp, unique sentences than anyone else -- Caitlin Moran
One of the most hilarious, insightful, addictive writers working today -- Jenny Colgan
Like spending an endless afternoon in the most sparkling company but without any pressure to sparkle back -- Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Nina Stibbe makes being funny look easy, but that's just because she's very, very good at it -- Clare Chambers
One of the great comic writers of our time * Irish Times *
Stibbe is an unassuming comic genius * Independent *
Breezy, sophisticated, hilarious, rude and aching with sweetness: Love, Nina might be the most charming book I've ever read -- Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette
The funniest new writer to arrive in years -- Andrew O'Hagan

Author Bio

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.