Nina Stibbe is one of our funniest novelists – it’s time to take her seriously

Stibbe writes some of the best-turned comic sentences in contemporary writing. Like Susan, she makes it look easier than it must be.

The funniest person who owns a computer

I love Nina Stibbe and her new novel, One Day I Shall Astonish the World, is such a lovingly observed testament to the complexities and profundities of female friendship

Sue Townsend’s heir . . . A moving ode to marriage and friendship and the great joke of agency in a world where everything can turn upside down in a heartbeat

Wonderful . . . Her best yet

Tender and comical

I loved it so SO much! Funnier than ever but with a new depth and maturity

Nina Stibbe’s latest novel, One Day I Shall Astonish the World buttresses her position as the Kingsley Amis of the twenty-first century. . . . Stibbe’s genius, like Amis’s, is for noting the cadences of ordinary speech and the idiotic platitudes we all spout. In the anatomy of English conversation, Stibbe (born 1962) takes up where Amis (died 1995) left off. There are echoes of Adrian Mole, Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood – but with no copying or pastiche. Stibbe makes the everyday funny. If a Martian asked me to explain the tragicomedy of normal English life, I would direct him to Stibbe

As a comic novelist, Stibbe is so truly incomparable, I can only describe this perfect novel as Stibbe meets Stibbe, with a touch of Stibbe. (And if you love Nina Stibbe…you’ll love this.) For as long as I could make it last, the world just felt a bit nicer. A true gift of a novel, I utterly adored it

Nina Stibbe takes on female friendship and ambition in a novel that has all its predecessors’ gossipy bookishness and quirky charm

It’s darker than Stibbe’s previous novels, but her trademark wit is still in evidence and her odd and eccentric characters remind us that we are odd and eccentric too!

Darkly funny and wry story is full of nostalgia and friendship

Warm and wonderfully well-observed . . . One Day I Shall Astonish The World reminds us that the richness of life is in its small details, not the grand plans. This is author Stibbe at her entertaining and heartwarming best

Nina Stibbe is one of our most beloved comic writers: One Day I Shall Astonish The World, about the lifelong friendship between two women, will cement that reputation further

While there may be echoes of previous greats, however, Stibbe’s voice is utterly her own . . . One Day I Shall Astonish the World is, unsurprisingly, very funny. But it might also be Stibbe’s most moving novel yet . . . so hilarious and rewarding

Funny, kind, sad, relevant, and raucous in all the right places. I loved it so much

Nina Stibbe is not just very funny but absolutely life-affirming

Clever and funny, it takes a sharp look at the intricacies of marriage, friendship, work, and driving. As with all Stibbe’s writing there is a pleasingly perfect balance of wisdom with jokes

I started off highlighting all the brilliant observations and one-liners but had to give up because there were so many. Nina Stibbe makes being funny look easy, but that’s just because she’s very, very good at it

Her best yet and it’s a delight to watch this gifted comic writer go from strength to strength . . . You’ll be rooting for Susan on every page of a novel packed to the gills with perceptive, laugh-out loud observations and idiosyncratic turns of phrase, putting the quirks of ordinary life under the microscope

For beautifully funny and well-observed comic writing, Nina Stibbe is your go-to author. In her latest release, a tale of lifelong friendship between Susan and Norma, she explores the mistakes, rivalries and love we all experience in life

The true heir to Sue Townsend

[Stibbe’s] new novel is Elena Ferrante re-scripted as English comedy

Delicious

Funny of course but also a real departure as it packs most of a life and a long, messy marriage into barely 300 pages and its humour springs from a deep understanding of social pain. This acute portrayal of frienmity is up there with Cats Eye and as nourishing as Anne Tyler on top form

I absolutely loved every single page of it! I honestly think it’s the funniest thing she’s ever written

From the comic voice of her generation comes a suburban tale of dysfunctional relationships full of charm, wit and lightly told wisdom

A master wielder of dry British humour, Stibbe here chronicles 30 years in the lives of frenemies Susan and Norma – a tangle of sweetness, snubs and secrets from their university days to middle age. There’s an LOL moment on almost every page, which makes the pandemic ending astonishingly moving

Very funny . . . Nina does gentle wisdom well

Another wonderful, funny slice of fiction from the author of best-seller, Love Nina. Her latest novel explores a decades-long friendship between two women and what happens when your paths diverge

Nina Stibbe’s very funny novels are full of charm, and her latest brilliantly captures the mordant humour of British suburban life. Through the 90s to the present day, it follows Susan from her job in a haberdashery shop to working at the local university, and the ebbs and flows of her relationships with her husband and best friend

The wayward, wildly original and beautifully noticing sentences are perfectly cadenced . . . Despite the sparkling, satirical voice, and her laughter at the littleness of Little England, Stibbe creates a world in which tolerance and forgiveness are the key, even in these dark and scary times, to the possibility of a happy life

It’s a rare novel that makes me laugh out loud but Stibbe has a knack for extracting humour from everyday moments

In One Day I Shall Astonish The World by gifted comic writer Nina Stibbe, Susan and Norma have been best friends for 30 years, but when Norma’s life takes an unforeseen turn, Susan begins to wonder if she’s followed the wrong path in life- and in friendship

One Day I Shall Astonish the World by the always entertaining Nina Stibbe is a story of female friendship

In April look out for…Love, Nina writer Nina Stibbe’s One Day I Shall Astonish The World

Nina Stibbe is one of the great comic writers of our time

Stibbe is one of the all-time greats

Very few writers can find the delicate balance between heartbreak and hilarity like Nina Stibbe

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

Joyful. Stibbe’s comedy probes what it means to become an adult

Pitch perfect vintage comedy

I love everything Nina Stibbe writes and this was my favourite of the novels. It’s so sharp and painful and brilliantly funny. There are sentences you could eat for Christmas dinner. If you haven’t read it already – you probably have but just in case – I really do think you’d love it