Man at the Helm

The very start of Lizzie Vogel's story. From the much-loved author of Love, Nina , discover a wildly comic, brilliantly sharp-eyed novel about one family's fall from grace . 'All hail a book that's funny!' Barbara Trapido ***** Meet Lizzie Vogel, 9. Lizzie is concerned about her newly divorced mother; thirty-one years old and trapped in a hostile village in the English countryside with only three young children and a Labrador for company. It isn't that having a husband is good, but in 1970s rural Leicestershire, not having one is bad. The women in the village think Lizzie's mother is after their husbands - and no one will let the children into the Brownies! Worried about their mother's drinking, her (bad) playwriting and social workers sending them off to the infamous Crescent Home for Children, Lizzie and her sister embark on a misguided campaign to find their mother a new husband. LIZZIE'S STORY CONTINUES IN PARADISE LODGE AND REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL! ***** ' [A] joyous read, full of wit and charm . . . I am already longing for Nina Stibbe's next book ' OBSERVER ' J ust the right mixture of childhood innocence and incredulity for the necessary deadpan delivery of Stibbe's particular brand of comedy . Read it and be charmed ' INDEPENDENT ' A beguilingly comic blend of naivety and precociousness ' SUNDAY TIMES