One Day I Shall Astonish the World

De: Nina Stibbe

Narrado por: Joanna Scanlan

Brought to you by Penguin.

Narrated by BAFTA winning actress Joanna Scanlan.

From the prize-winning author of Reasons to be Cheerful comes a story about the ebb and flow of female friendship over half a lifetime

Susan and Norma have been best friends for years, at first thrust together by force of circumstance (a job at The Pin Cushion, a haberdashery shop in 1990s Leicestershire) and then by force of character (neither being particularly inclined to make friends with anyone else). But now, thirty years later, faced with a husband seeking immortality and Norma out of reach on a wave of professional glory, Susan begins to wonder whether she has made the right choices about life, love, work, and, most importantly, friendship.

Nina Stibbe's new novel is the story of the wonderful and sometimes surprising path of friendship: from its conspiratorial beginnings, along its irritating wrong turns, to its final gratifying destination.

'Nina Stibbe's writing is as brilliant as a cut diamond. One Day I Shall Astonish the World is a fantastic novel about friendship and love that resonates with everyone; it's gut wrenchingly funny and beautifully poignant. It was an honour to be telling Susan and Norma's story and I hope listeners enjoy the audiobook as much' Joanna Scanlan

'A true gift of a novel, I utterly adored it. For as long as I could make it last, the world just felt a bit nicer.' Meg Mason

'Stibbe turns out more perfect, sharp, unique sentences than anyone else' Caitlin Moran

'Stibbe has an extraordinary gift' Marian Keyes

'Nina Stibbe makes being funny look easy, but that's just because she's very, very good at it' Clare Chambers

'Nina Stibbe's very funny novels are full of charm, and her latest brilliantly captures the mordant humour of British suburban life' Evening Standard

'I'm not surprised to see that Stibbe's writing has been compared to Jane Austen's' Emma Healey

'I am already longing for Nina Stibbe's next book' Observer

'Stibbe is one of the all-time greats' Daisy Buchanan

'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' Cathy Rentzenbrink

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

'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' Stylist

'One of the great comic writers of our time' Irish Times

© Nina Stibbe 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Reseñas de la Crítica

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 (Ann Patchett)

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 (Elizabeth Day)

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 (Kathy Burke)

Tender and comical

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

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 (Harry Mount)

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 (Meg Mason)