Paradise Lodge
Hilarity and pure escapism from a true British wit
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Lizzie Vogel's story continues in Paradise Lodge, the brilliantly comic sequel to Nina Stibbe's hilarious Man at the Helm.
'LOVE it! Instant classic - funny, wise, touching, entirely delightful' MARIAN KEYES
*****
Working in a care home is not really a suitable job for a schoolgirl but 15-year-old Lizzie Vogel went for it. It just seemed too exhausting to commit to being a full-time girlfriend or a punk (it is the 1970s after all), plus she has some knowledge of old people. They're not suited to granary bread, and you mustn't compare them to toddlers, but she doesn't know there's a right way to get someone out of the bath - or what to do when someone dies.
When a rival old people's home with better parking and daily chairobics threatens to take all their residents, Paradise Lodge's cast of staff and helpers have to come together to save the home before it's too late.
From the bestselling author of Love, Nina comes a story of being very young, and very old, and the laughter and tears in between.
LIZZIE'S STORY CONTINUES IN REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL!
*****
'The one problem with reviewing Stibbe is that I just want to quote entire pages: it's all so brilliant' THE I
'Stibbe looks at another chapter of her life through the prism of her trademark deadpan, acutely observed humour' STYLIST
'A dollop of nostalgia and very British humour' GLAMOUR
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
If Cassandra from Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle was a teenager in the 1970s working at a Leicestershire nursing home, she would be just like Lizzie Vogel, the narrator of Stibbe's latest. Lizzie, a schoolgirl who just wants to make enough money to buy Linco Beer shampoo, takes a job as an auxiliary nurse at Paradise Lodge, an old folks' home as close to death as some of its residents. Her grades suffer as she almost single-handedly runs the home while the supposed adults in charge take advantage of her earnestness. The matron expects her to miss class to fill in shifts, the owner abandons all thought of laundry, and the trained nurses leave her in charge of patients. Even though she's only 15, Lizzie cares deeply about both the other staff and the residents, many of whom could have easily become caricatures but instead are as richly drawn as the dilapidated manor house in which they live. Stibbe (Man at the Helm) manages to make Lizzie sincere and na ve without being syrupy or precious, and creates a story that helps readers understand human nature a little better.
