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Went to London, Took the Dog

The Diary of a 60-Year-Old Runaway

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Went to London, Took the Dog

By: Nina Stibbe
Narrated by: Nina Stibbe
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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This brilliant audiobook is hilariously read by the author, Nina Stibbe.

From the beloved author of Love, Nina, comes a warm and funny story of a woman changing her life at sixty.


'Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise' - Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons In Chemistry

'A unique comic voice, endlessly funny' - David Nicholls, author of One Day


What does it mean to start again at sixty?

In Went to London, Took the Dog, Nina Stibbe is surprised to find herself asking this question as she leaves married life behind in Cornwall and heads back to London after twenty years away for what she calls ‘a year-long sabbatical’.

She takes up lodgings at the house of writer Deborah Moggach, unprepared for how she, and the city, has changed and now wondering whether freedom is all it’s cracked up to be . . .

Follow the diary of a sixty-year-old runaway as she becomes, as she puts it, ‘a proper adult’ at last.

As heard on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour

'The true heir to Sue Townsend' - Caitlin Moran

'Painfully funny, but also deeply moving' - Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss


'An utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend' - Marian Keyes

'No one writes heartbreak more hilariously, or hilarity more heartbreakingly' - Katherine Heiny

'So sharp and funny, blissfully gossipy, enviably well-observed . . . I loved it' - India Knight

Art & Literature Journalists, Editors & Publishers Relationships Women Funny Inspiring Witty Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Comedy
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Critic reviews

Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise (Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry)
A unique comic voice, endlessly funny. Nina makes me laugh so much (David Nicholls)
The true heir to Sue Townsend (Caitlin Moran)
No one writes heartbreak more hilariously, or hilarity more heartbreakingly. No one does a better job of making the ordinary phenomenal (Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning Riser)
Painfully funny, but also deeply moving. I never wanted it to end (Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss)
What an utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend. I'm so sad it's over (Marian Keyes)
So sharp and funny, blissfully gossipy, enviably well-observed — it’s like she has X-ray vision when it comes to human beings. I couldn’t stop reading it. I wish it were twice as long. I loved it (India Knight)
I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a diary so much since I read Adrian Mole for the first time (Daisy Buchanan)
Funny, warm, enlightening. The reading equivalent of getting the giggles in the back row of a school assembly (Santham Sanghera, author of Empireland)
I loved this book. Stibbe’s joyful midlife observations, her nods to the wonders and absurdities of the everyday, are so life-affirming. I started seeing pockets of humour in my own ordinary days - and actually felt bereft when I turned the last page (Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane)
Stibbe turns out more perfect, sharp, unique sentences than anyone else (Caitlin Moran)
One of the most hilarious, insightful, addictive writers working today (Jenny Colgan)
Like spending an endless afternoon in the most sparkling company but without any pressure to sparkle back (Frank Cottrell-Boyce)
Nina Stibbe makes being funny look easy, but that's just because she's very, very good at it (Clare Chambers)
One of the great comic writers of our time
Stibbe is an unassuming comic genius
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)
The funniest new writer to arrive in years (Andrew O'Hagan)
All stars
Most relevant
I loved this book. Nina has the loveliest sense of humour which has me smiling and sometimes laughing out loud all the way through. I first read Love, Nina some years ago and she had me hooked from then on. More than any other author she vividly conjures up images in my head of all she describes. The worst thing about her books is getting to the end of them and then wishing I had rationed myself to make them last longer. Her books are so much better when she narrates them herself but I think she has only done this with Love, Nina and this one.

Nina Stibbe Can Do No Wrong

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I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook read by Nina Stibbe. Great to hear the author’s own voice - perfect for this book. Love Nina Stibbe’s writing a mix of funny and poignant. Thank you

Enjoyable listen

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Really enjoyed read, Nina kept me company whilst dog walking. Felt immersed in the London life and day to day happenings of writer and her circle of family and friends.

Walking with a friend

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I absolutely loved this. So funny and so many details resonated with me. Nina Stibbe has a wonderful voice and her reading of the book made it even more brilliant.

Fantastic

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I love Nina Stibbe's work! This, however, just leaves me puzzled. I get that it is extracts from a diary, but did no-one edit it? It just rambles on and goes around and around an a, frankly, completely tedious way.

I was also in the dark about who most of the people are. The characters are all listed (and a long, boring list it is, to listen to) at the start, but whereas, in a book, you could quickly flick back to the opening page to check who someone is, it's not easy to do that in an audio book.

Oddly, even being read by its author, the narrator seemed often to leave no gap whatsoever between sentences, so that the meaning was sometimes completely lost. I am sorry to say that it was all completely disappointing.

A Collection of Bits

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