I loved this SO MUCH. Nina Stibbe is a glorious writer and despite my not having read Paradise Lodge (is that a prequel to this?) I just adored the whole thing. Bar one pretty major event. Which I won’t give details of but it did break my heart a bit. I’m so glad I read this.

Edit: I’ve just realised this is the third in a series. Ah well I still loved it and there are two more for me to read!

This is the story of young adult Lizzie, who leaves her alcoholic (but honestly fabulous) mother to work for a racist dentist in the city. Lizzie goes through the usual early adulthood adventures - meeting her first boyfriend, dealing with the solitude that comes with living alone for the first time, and just figuring out life in general.⁠
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The book was a little too slow paced for my personal taste, but Lizzie's witty remarks made me laugh multiple times and just made the entire journey of following her life, and getting to know her, worth it.⁠

Reasons to be Cheerful is the third Nina Stibbe novel featuring Lizzie Vogel and her family. While Man at the Helm introduced us to the child Lizzie and her attempts to find a new, stable partner for her mother, Reasons to be Cheerful finds an 18-year-old Lizzie leaving home for the first time to start work as a dental assistant, a job which comes with its own flat. Lizzie’s late teens catch her at an awkward age; in some situations she exudes a confidence beyond her years, while in others she comes across as vulnerable and hesitant. She soon develops a fledgling relationship with Andy, an apprentice from the Mercurial Dental Laboratory and maker of the most comfortable dentures in town; however, Lizzie lacks the self-confidence and experience to express what she wants from the relationship, and there’s a lot of 'will they, won’t they'.

Set in 1980, there’s plenty of period detail in Reasons to be Cheerful, and this all adds to the wry humour; McCains Oven Chips have recently been launched and have revolutionised the menu for the Vogel family, people are accused of the misuse of salad spinners, and there are some seriously nostalgic descriptions of the fashions of the time.

Although the writing is mainly light-hearted and funny, it’s clear that some of the characters in the novel are more sympathetic than others. Lizzie’s mother, portrayed with all her flaws such as her unreliability and her tendency to be drawn to self-damaging behaviours, is at heart a woman who’d do anything for the people she loves. On the other hand, Lizzie’s employer, JP Wintergreen, is immediately grotesque, with his ‘European’ way of wearing his trousers (‘everything all down one leg’) and his habit of having his dental nurses ‘feed’ him his cigarettes to avoid complaints from patients about the smell on his fingers. Nina Stibbe doesn’t shy away from dealing with Wintergreen’s racism and his refusal to offer treatment to anyone with an Asian-sounding name, and Lizzie gets into some scrapes trying to right some of her employer’s wrongs.

Reasons to be Cheerful would work well as a standalone novel. Because I’d read the previous two Lizzie Vogel novels, I felt I already knew the Vogel family. The family relationships are conveyed via numerous depictions of funny, everyday events, small acts and humorous details so, when the plot develops in a way that tests the family, there’s a real and understated poignancy. I’m not sure whether any further Lizzie Vogel books are planned at the moment, but if we’re offered any future glimpses into the lives and time of the Vogels, I’ll be there.

Review An uplifting, fun read with touching moments. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A few bits unlikely but it’s fiction so I let it go. Very nostalgic read for someone of my age , great flashbacks !

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion