Lizzie Vogel Series by Nina Stibbe, Imogen Church

National Book Award Winner Man at the Helm, the debut novel from Nina Stibbe—the much-loved author of Love, Nina—is a wildly comic, brilliantly sharp-eyed novel about the horrors of being an attractive divorcée in an English village in the 1970s, and a family's fall from grace... moreNational Book Award Winner Man at the Helm, the debut novel from Nina Stibbe—the much-loved author of Love, Nina—is a wildly comic, brilliantly sharp-eyed novel about the horrors of being an attractive divorcée in an English village in the 1970s, and a family's fall from grace....My sister and I and our little brother were born (in that order) into a very good situation and apart from the odd new thing life was humdrum and comfortable until an evening in 1970 when my mother listened in to my father's phone call and ended up blowing her nose on a tea towel—a thing she'd only have done in an absolute emergency.Not long after her parents' separation, heralded by an awkward scene involving a wet Daily Telegraph and a pan of cold eggs, nine-year-old Lizzie Vogel, her sister and little brother and their now-divorcée mother are packed off to a small, slightly hostile village in the English countryside. Their mother is all alone, only 31 years of age, with three young children and a Labrador. It is no wonder, when you put it like that, that she becomes a menace and a drunk. And a playwright.Worried about the bad playwriting—though more about becoming wards of court and being sent to the infamous Crescent Home for Children—Lizzie and her sister decide to contact, by letter, suitable men in the area. In order to stave off the local social worker they urgently need to find a new Man at the Helm.Nina Stibbe was born in Leicester. She is the author of the hugely acclaimed, Love, Nina. She now lives in Cornwall with her partner and two children. Man at the Helm is her first novel. less

A delightful comic novel about growing up, getting old, and every step in between from the highly acclaimed author of Man at the Helm and Love, Nina.After succeeding in her quest to help her unconventional mother find a new "man at the helm," 15-year old Lizzie Vogel gets more than she bargained for when she takes a job as a junior nurse at Paradise Lodge, a ramshackle refuge for the elderly that has seen better days... moreA delightful comic novel about growing up, getting old, and every step in between from the highly acclaimed author of Man at the Helm and Love, Nina.After succeeding in her quest to help her unconventional mother find a new "man at the helm," 15-year old Lizzie Vogel gets more than she bargained for when she takes a job as a junior nurse at Paradise Lodge, a ramshackle refuge for the elderly that has seen better days. What begins as a way to get spending money (for important items like real coffee and beer shampoo) quickly turns into the education of a lifetime as Lizzie encounters a colorful cast of eccentric characters. But when Paradise Lodge faces a crisis, Lizzie must find a way to save her job before she loses the only place she's ever felt like she belongs. less

The new novel from the beloved, critically acclaimed author of Love, Nina, Man at the Helm,and Paradise Lodge. 18 year old Lizzie Vogel, determined to make a grown-up life for herself, lands a job in a local dentist's office after answering a classified ad for a "mature lady with a strong interest in dental issues' "Working for an eccentric dental surgeon, Lizzie's life is, for once, uneventful, until Andy Nicolello turns up one day to deliver a crown... moreThe new novel from the beloved, critically acclaimed author of Love, Nina, Man at the Helm,and Paradise Lodge. 18 year old Lizzie Vogel, determined to make a grown-up life for herself, lands a job in a local dentist's office after answering a classified ad for a "mature lady with a strong interest in dental issues' "Working for an eccentric dental surgeon, Lizzie's life is, for once, uneventful, until Andy Nicolello turns up one day to deliver a crown. Lizzie seizes her chance to find love, and soon begins calling him her boyfriend even though they have never so much as kissed or even sat next to each other on the sofa. But Andy doesn't turn out to be quite what he seems... Reasons to be Cheerful is a painfully funny account of life as a hapless teenager from the bestselling author of Love, Nina, Man at the Helm and Paradise Lodge. less