Man at the Helm

by Nina Stibbe

Overview

The author of Love, Nina introduces a dysfunctional English family in search of a patriarch: "brilliant . . . I can't remember a novel that made me laugh more" (Guardian, UK).
A New York Times Notable Book
Soon after her parents' separation, nine-year-old Lizzie Vogel moves with her siblings and newly single mother to a tiny village in the English countryside, where the new neighbors are horrified by their unorthodox ways and fatherless household. Lizzie's theatrical mother only invites more gossip by spending her days drinking whiskey, popping pills, and writing plays. The one way to fit in, the children decide, will be to find themselves a new man at the helm.
Nina Stibbe made a literary splash with her debut memoir, Love, Nina. Her first novel now cements her reputation as one of the most gifted comic voices writing today. Man at the Helm is a hilarious and occasionally heartbreaking portrait of childhood in an unconventional family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316286749
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	09/24/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Nina Stibbe is the author of Love, Nina, Man at the Helm, Paradise Lodge, and An Almost Perfect Christmas. She lives in Cornwall, England with her husband and their two children.

Editorial Reviews

Ms. Stibbe's writerly charms and her sneakily deep observations about romantic connection are on display throughout…Man at the Helm is densely peppered with funny lines, but even more striking is the sustained energy of the writing. In almost all the space between jokes, there remains a witty atmosphere, a playful effect sentence by sentence…Man at the Helm has understandably drawn comparisons to Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, another thoroughly charming British novel of domestic life narrated by a young girl. More than 65 years after it was published, Ms. Smith's book still enchants a sizable cult of readers. Ms. Stibbe's novel is made of the same timeless material, making it easy to imagine that it will enjoy just as long a life.

The New York Times - John Williams

This densely populated coming-of-age story (for both mother and children) has retained and even expanded on Stibbe's signature antic charm…the appeal of Stibbe's novel lies less in plotting than in the way she shades a sequence of comic vignettes with seriously sad undertones…It's not giving too much away to say that redemption, of a kind, will ensue. And it's not too much of a stretch to conclude that Man at the Helm, with its jauntily matter-of-fact social satire, wouldn't be out of place on the same shelf as Cold Comfort Farm and I Capture the Castle.

The New York Times Book Review - Alida Becker

"Man at the Helm is a winner- a brilliant find....It is full, free, outlandish. And I can't remember a book that made me laugh more. [Stibbe] doesn't take anything seriously. Or rather, she does, and yet her eye and ear for the absurd never desert her- they are part of who she is."—The Guardian

"Some of the most perceptive writing I've read about relationships in a while....this book is very, very funny. Stibbe has a fine eye for absurdity, and her writing has an unforced charm."—The Independent

"[A] joyous read, full of wit and charm . . . I am already longing for Nina Stibbe's next book."—The Observer

"an impressive first novel, a combination of P. G. Wodehouse pacing and the eccentricity of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals (1956). An extraordinarily well-written, deeply satisfying read about an unusual, highly entertaining group of people."— Booklist

"While Man at the Helm is hilarious and heartfelt, it also offers a poignant peek into a not-so-distant time when women's choices were limited and their dependence on men profound. Based on Stibbe's childhood, Man at the Helm is a beguiling, often wickedly funny look at an unusual family trying to find its place in a conventional world.
— Bookpage

"Nina Stibbe's Man at the Helm is straight-up hilarious, a brilliant collage of a family in glorious ruin. Stibbe's wry, sly wit propels the novel forward at breakneck speed, but don't be fooled: underneath all the exuberance beats a surprisingly melancholy heart."—Lauren Fox, Author of Still Life with Husband and Friends Like Us

"Stibbe's astute, deadpan charm is impossible to resist."
—Kim Hubbard, People

"This densely populated coming-of-age story (for both mother and children) has retained and even expanded on Stibbe's signature antic charm...It's not too much of a stretch to conclude that Man at the Helm, with its jauntily matter-of-fact social satire, wouldn't be out of place on the same shelf as Cold Comfort Farm and I Capture the Castle.
—Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review

"Lizzie's scheme to find a suitable match for her [mother] sparkles with humor as British as mincemeat pie."
—Entertainment Weekly

"impossible not to love...a glorious, hilarious and touching picture of an unforgettably eccentric family...a novel that while brilliantly comedic is also a heartfelt celebration of the love that can flourish in even the most seemingly dysfunctional family." —Amy Goodfellow Wagner, Examiner.com

"Ms. Stibbe's writerly charms and her sneakily deep observations about romantic connection are on display throughout...'Man at the Helm' is densely peppered with funny lines, but even more striking is the sustained energy of the writing. In almost all the space between jokes, there remains a witty atmosphere, a playful effect sentence by sentence."—John Williams, The New York Times

"Funny and engaging...I simply hugged myself with joy reading this book, for the tale it tells, which is funny, painful, and ultimately happy, and above all for the voice, which is perfection."
—Katherine A. Powers, The Christian Science Monitor

PRAISE FOR LOVE, NINA:

"I adored this book, and I could quote from it forever. It's real, odd, life-affirming, sharp, loving...and I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud so frequently while reading."—Nick Hornby, The Believer

"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

"These letters are winning from the start...we simply like being in Ms. Stibbe's company."—Dwight Garner, The New York Times

"You'll find yourself laughing out loud but also touched by the book's depiction of family as it should be: people bound not just by blood but by shared affinities, humor and unfailing interest in hearing the answer to the question, 'How was your day?'"—Kim Hubbard, People

"I must MOST EARNESTLY recommend Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe. It's the most piss-funny thing I've read all year. I can't remember a book since Adrian Mole that so brilliantly, drily nailed day-to-day life in BRILLIANT, faux-naive prose."—Caitlin Moran, author of How to Build a Girl

"I have never laughed so hard reading a book. Nina Stibbe's recollections of life as a London nanny are both hilarious and heartwarming."—J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Maine and The Engagements

enchanting. It's one of the funniest—and oddest—books I've read in a long time.... [Stibbe's letters] are perceptive and droll, and provide a glimpse into the domestic life of a fascinating literary family."—Moira Hodgson, The Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

2014-12-22
Divorce leaves an unreliable mother and her three concerned children adrift in an unfriendly village in this first novel from Stibbe, whose memoir (Love, Nina, 2014) was an acclaimed comic debut.Narrated in a naïve yet confident voice by 10-year-old Lizzie Vogel, the middle child, the book traces an unconventional family's progress after marital derailment in 1970s England. Filtered through Lizzie's idiosyncratic perspective, the sad and serious prospect of a household falling apart as the mother struggles with loneliness, depression, drink and pills shades away from tragedy toward the absurd. The family relocates from comfortable suburbia to a new village home where Lizzie and her sister find themselves not only unpopular, but also, they fear, in danger of being made wards of the court. While attempting to take care of their mother, they decide their job is also to find her a boyfriend, a new man at the helm to steady and safeguard the ship of family. Making a list of local candidates, with no concern about whether they're already married or not, the girls set up romantic encounters by writing letters in their mother's name. The results are predictably chaotic. Ridiculous episodes, like a pony climbing the stairs, are interspersed with more perturbing developments, including financial disasters and the nervous problems of younger brother Jack. And yet, despite increasing poverty and the move to another, smaller home, the family's fortunes eventually shift, with the helm being taken by a man almost as eccentric as the Vogels themselves. Charming and bittersweet, with a very English flavor, this social comedy is distinguished by Stibbe's light touch and bright eye.

Kirkus Reviews