Paradise Lodge cover art

Paradise Lodge

Hilarity and pure escapism from a true British wit

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Paradise Lodge

By: Nina Stibbe
Narrated by: Helen Baxendale
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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Paradise Lodge by Nina Stibbe, read by Helen Baxendale.

This is the story of Lizzie Vogel, a 15 year old girl who finds herself working in an old people's home in the 1970s. The place is in chaos and it's not really a suitable job for a schoolgirl: she'd only gone for the job because it seemed too exhausting to commit to being a full-time girlfriend or a punk, and she doesn't realise there's a right and a wrong way to get someone out of a bath.

Through a cast of wonderful characters, from the assertively shy Nurse who only communicates via little grunts to the very attractive son of the Chinese take away manager, Paradise Lodge is the story of being very young, and very old, and the laughter, and the tears, in between.

 Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction World Literature Funny Feel-Good Heartfelt Witty Thought-Provoking Comedy

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Critic reviews

It's the most piss-funny thing I've read all year (Caitlin Moran on 'Love, Nina')
The funniest new writer to arrive in years (Andrew O’Hagan)
Nina already feels like my best friend (Marian Keyes)
I am already longing for Nina Stibbe's next book
I can't remember a book that made me laugh more
Man at the Helm wouldn't be out of place on the same shelf as Cold Comfort Farm and I Capture the Castle
Lizzie's voice is convincingly childlike but also confidently witty... Stibbe's feat is to remain unsentimentally barbed while subtly and triumphantly demonstrating the value of the kind of understated love found within the strangest and least obviously functional families
Fantastic. Comical, moving and brilliantly evocative of British childhood
All stars
Most relevant
I would thoroughly recommend this audiobook, it is funny and well balanced. I hadn’t read Men at the Helm and didn’t realise I was jumping into a trilogy, but will go back now and listen to the rest. As we all know the reader is so important and I must say Helen Baxedale smashed it.

Brilliant performance, brilliant story

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A lovely happy book that captures 1977 perfectly, totally absorbing. The narrator is very good however occasionally I would think I was listening to Sue Pollard.

Delightful

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Not necessarily my typical genre, but I liked the premise and gave this a try. I'm so glad I did. Light, entertaining, enjoyable but with some real heartfelt moments. Bravo.

Delightful

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There seem to be a lot of books out at the moment set in Care Homes, or with the elderly taking starring roles. Bring it on - we're all going to get old one day (hopefully!) . A warm and often funny (sometimes sad) tale, told from the point of view of a teenage carer and set in the 70s. Read brilliantly by Helen Baxendale. I'll admit I was dubious about the reader, not being a great fan of her acting roles, but she was fantastic, and hit exactly the right notes with both young and elderly characters.
As well as being a very entertaining story, this really made me think about how we view old folks. I hope I'll have a lot more patience in the future. A great listen.

Elder Care Entertainment!

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Would you consider the audio edition of Paradise Lodge to be better than the print version?

Hard to say really. I enjoyed the book too, but the beauty of the audio version is that you can listen on the move.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Paradise Lodge?

I don't want to give it away but when you discover the identity of one of the characters, plus the negotiations between NIna and the school teacher was very good.

Have you listened to any of Helen Baxendale’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I haven't listened to any other audio books narrated by Baxendale but I would seek her out in future.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Welcome to Paradise.

A really enjoyable story by Stibbe, yet again.

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