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One Day I Shall Astonish the World

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About this listen

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

 Coming of Age Contemporary Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Fiction Friendship Funny Witty Feel-Good Comedy

Critic reviews

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)
All stars
Most relevant
charming & engaging. written with warmth & humour, a delightful book. Nina Stibbe is always a joy!

loved it!

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Having dropped out of uni to marry Roy whose baby she was carrying, Susan is s a would-be academic . ‘One day I shall astonish the world’ is the aspirational motto of her local university where she ends up as the super efficient secretary to the Vice Chancellor. Despite her intelligent love of books (her references to which are one of the pleasures of the book), thirty years later she’s still married to irritating Roy with his penchant for iceberg lettuce whom she once loved, mollified by her beloved daughter Honey in whom Roy has never shown much interest.

Whilst working in a haberdashery as a young woman at the beginning of the story, she had become friends with Norma, the highly unconventional daughter of the shop owner. It’s a friendship which endures despite a multitude of knock-backs throughout those thirty years which end with the Covid Pandemic.

It’s an inconsequential, meandering rag bag of a story, (like a rag bag, with lovely bright bits) - but then so is real life and that is what One Day I will astonish the World is all about. How many readers / listeners will identify with Susan’s poignant musings on what might have been? Stibbe is so good at making the everyday monotony of ordinary life , with all its immediate up-to-the-minute references to brands and topical trends, lively, funny, at times heart-breaking and touching . It’s all monumentally ordinary but cheering and somehow uplifting. Susan’s observations on and insights into relationships, marriage, motherhood – and in particular on university life – are both acute and feisty and you can’t help liking her. The plot dips into silliness at times but overall the positivity and energy of This download will cheer you up - and what’s not to like about that.

The narrator does a great job and gets right into Susan’s skin.

Cheery natter

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I'm glad I decided to give this new novel a try, having loved Nina's previous books, in spite of some negative reviews.
The narration was great and the story funny, heart warming and gut wrenching in places.
I loved the ending! I encourage you to give it a try....

Extremely entertaining listen

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was not sure about this book for the first few chapters. but as it turns out it's brilliant, funny and full of interesting characters
great story line.

excellent book, beautifully written a

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I love Nina Stibbe's writing and this is another strong offering. Maybe not as hilarious as some of her earlier books and covers a much bigger time span but nonetheless sharp as a razor. Lovely reading by Jo Scanlon.

Entertaining book superbly read.

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