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Reading lists

7 extremely funny books written by women

A razor-sharp, gloriously funny retelling of Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love

Darling

Delight the bookworm in your life with the gift of this hilarious and heartbreaking modern-day adaptation of Nancy Mitford's classic, The Pursuit of Happiness. 
 
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Marooned in a sprawling farmhouse in Norfolk, teenage Linda Radlett feels herself destined for greater things. She longs for love, but how will she ever find it? She can't even get a signal on her mobile phone. Linda's strict, former rock star father terrifies any potential suitors away, while her bohemian mother, wafting around in silver jewellery, answers Linda's urgent questions about love with upsettingly vivid allusions to animal husbandry. 
 
Eventually Linda does find her way out from the bosom of her deeply eccentric extended family, and she escapes to London. She knows she doesn't want to marry 'a man who looks like a pudding', as her good and dull sister Louisa has done, and marries the flashy, handsome son of a UKIP peer instead. 
 
But this is only the beginning of Linda's pursuit of love, a journey that will be wilder, more surprising and more complicated than she could ever have imagined. 
 
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'A savagely funny, bracingly sad, dazzlingly clever reimagining of The Pursuit of Love. I loved it' Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss 
 
'A triumph! Brilliantly done, faithful but imaginative, tremendously romantic and very funny' Nina Stibbe, author of Reasons to be Cheerful 
 
'Fans of Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit Of Love will adore this brilliant contemporary take ... The writing is as sharp, the details as perfect, the jokes as funny as [the] original' Daily Mail 
 
'Beautifully and meticulously done' The Sunday Times

It takes a brave author to attempt a contemporary reimagining of such a beloved novel. Luckily, India Knight [...] has courage and talent in spades ... It's beautifully and meticulously done, echoing the detail of the original plot as far as feasible, but with contemporary twists ... Knight is warmer than Mitford, and more comforting

Fans of Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit Of Love will adore this brilliant contemporary take ... The writing is as sharp, the details as perfect, the jokes as funny as [the] original

The delight is in the details. Knight's are bang on, and there's joy in spotting them ... There's heart as well as humour: it was, and remains, a sincere romance ... Pursuit of Love diehards can rest easy: your blood vessels are safe with this faithful, fiercely funny homage

In less talented hands, Knight's retelling of this classic novel might have gone horribly wrong. But Darling is a treat, with whip-smart dialogue, larger-than- life characters, witty observations and a heart-breaking twist ... Fans will love Knight's clever re-imagining of this classic tale - and new readers will relish the chance to discover the glorious Radletts

What could have been a disaster - a modern reimagining of Nancy Mitford's superlative comedy of manners The Pursuit of Love - is an absolute triumph. Romantic, clever and oh-so funny

A perfect comfort read: the kind of book you take into the bath and keep reading even when the water has gone cold, a one-sitting, dark-at-four joy ... Darling is a very human book, full of feelings and heartbreak and humour and joy

Beguiling reimagining ... Spry and wry Darling is delicious

[A] lively modern update of a passionately loved classic ... A sizzling modern-day comedy of manners. Plenty of Mitfordian wit but with Ukip peers and mobile phones

The Times, Best Fiction to Read This Autumn

I found myself tearing through, beguiled by Knight's faithful channelling of Radlett ways, wiles and speech patterns ... Reinventing anything so beloved is a formidable challenge, and Knight has risen to it admirably

A modern retelling of Nancy Mitford's beloved The Pursuit of Love ... Knight nails the wit and satire

Sheer brilliance. Darling is hilarious and heartbreaking and vivid and and clever and utterly compulsive - I absolutely loved it

Total escapist bliss. A joyous updating of the Mitford classic. I loved every page

Sabine Durrant, author of Finders Keepers

A savagely funny, bracingly sad, dazzlingly clever reimagining of The Pursuit of Love. I loved it

A triumph! Brilliantly done, faithful but imaginative, tremendously romantic and very funny. Meeting the Radlett family again in the 21st century was an absolute a treat, rather like hearing a new arrangement of beloved old carol and hearing it anew, with trumpets

Nina Stibbe, author of Reasons to be Cheerful

Darling is a black forest gateau of a book: rich characters, sumptuous prose, delicious dialogue, and layered throughout with sharp wit and intelligence (which are even better than the cherry liqueur the gateau calls for). Somehow, India Knight's writing manages to be hilarious, melancholy, insightful, and romantic all at the same time. Treat yourself to this novel

Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning Riser

India Knight is the author of four previous novels: Mutton, Comfort and Joy, Don't You Want Me? and My Life on a Plate. She is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in Suffolk with her partner and three children.

Marooned in a sprawling farmhouse in Norfolk, teenage Linda Radlett feels herself destined for greater things. She longs for love, but how will she ever find it? She can't even get a signal on her mobile phone. Linda's strict, former rock-star father terrifies any potential suitors away, while her bohemian mother, wafting around in silver jewellery, answers Linda's urgent questions about love with upsettingly vivid allusions to animal husbandry. 
 
When Linda eventually moves to London, she doesn't want to marry 'a man who looks like a pudding', as her good and dull sister Louisa has done, and marries the flashy, handsome son of a UKIP peer instead. But love, and her new life in London, are not quite what she expected . . .

The Human's Guide to Choosing, Buying, Training, Feeding, Living With and Caring For Your Dog

The Goodness of Dogs

This book is a celebration of happy dogs and the happy people who own them. At once a companion, a manual and a repository of useful information, The Goodness of Dogs also contains avid dog-lover India Knight's reflections on the sheer brilliance of dogs and the life-enhancing delight of dog ownership. If you have reached dog nirvana, you will recognize yourself. If you haven't yet - this book will help you. 
 
With chapters ranging from how to choose a breed (and where to get it from), to the joy and chaos of puppies, to feeding and training your dog, to choosing a vet and even how to cope with illnesses and death, The Goodness of Dogs will take you through every facet of dog ownership. 
 
Full of India Knight's inimitable wit and the sound advice she is famous for, and beautifully illustrated by artist Sally Muir, this book will make the perfect gift for any dog-lover.

This book is must buy for any actual or prospective dog owner. Wise, clever, funny, there is something for all dog people in here, however much one thinks one knows

Mixing the personal with the practical . . . a useful, well-structured read for those considering their first dog, and for the dog-ambivalent among us.

Knight's words feel like you're speaking with that friend who always gives you the best advice...an entertaining and informed read.

I love India and her no-nonsense, honest and utterly hilarious guide to navigating the post-45 years.

Marian Keyes on In Your Prime, Mail on Sunday

Knight is tremendously opinionated, but there is something strangely comforting about her robust certainty. Reading her book is like having a conversation with a fearfully bossy but beloved old chum.

India Knight is the author of four novels and five previous non-fiction books: In Your Prime, the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook, The Thrift Book and The Shops. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her partner and three children.

With dogs more popular than ever, The Goodness of Dogs presents every facet of dog ownership in manageable, research-heavy sections. With chapters ranging from how to choose a breed (and where to get it from), to feeding and training your dog, to choosing a vet and how to cope with illnesses and death. At once a companion, a manual and a repository of useful information, this book also contains autobiographical asides about the goodness of dogs and their life-enhancing qualities. Full of India Knight's inimitable wit and the sound advice she is famous for, and beautifully illustrated by Sally Muir, this book will make the perfect gift for any dog-lover.

Older, Wiser, Happier

In Your Prime

'I love India and her no-nonsense, honest and utterly hilarious guide to navigating the post-45 years' Marian Keyes, Mail on Sunday 
 
'A route map for the midlifer woman. Knight tackles every issue - beauty, menopause, laser eye surgery . . . she is not held back by the fear of laying down the law' The Times 
 
Happy, confident, in control, ready to do and enjoy everything that comes your way - you're definitely In Your Prime. But too many of us allow mid-life's little nuisances to dictate how and who we are. So let India Knight tell you how to deal with the obstacles while living life to the full. 
 
Whether it is coping with ageing parents, divorce, dating, teenagers, wavering libidos or your saggy bits, India dispenses perfect tips. She'll instruct you how to drink, dress and party gracefully (or disgracefully), but above all she'll show that happiness is the one thing you deserve. 
 
This is the book that will tell you how to live the rest of your life.

Refreshingly upfront...What a relief to have sorted out my Christmas list for all my older, wiser and happier girlfriends. Thank you.

India Knight tackles aging with wit...[reads like] a funny, informative conversation...often made me laugh out loud.

Knight is tremendously opinionated, but there is something strangely comforting about her robust certainty. Reading her book is like having a conversation with a fearfully bossy but beloved old chum

Brad Pitt at 50 acts as if he believes the best is yet to come. Women should feel entitled to the same belief and the contents of this book make it seem possible.

Joyous advice on how to age wisely, happily and with grace.

I read India Knight's In Your Prime last week, with an air-punch of solidarity at its acknowledgement of the pleasures of middle age.

India Knight has all bases covered, with great good wit and wisdom.

India Knight is the author of four previous non-fiction books: the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook, The Thrift Book and The Shops. She has also written four novels: Mutton, My Life on a Plate, Don't You Want Me and Comfort and Joy. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her partner and three children.

Our mothers' fifty is not our fifty. We have no map, no blueprint, no nothing. There is no longer any sense of what is and isn't age appropriate, or even of whether age-appropriateness is still relevant. We're supposed to be grown up, but we seldom feel it. 
 
With In Your Prime, India Knight provides answers to the modern-day dilemmas of getting older. Part manual, part memoir, part rallying cry for the mildly middle-aged, In Your Prime is the definitive, much-needed guide to ageing with confidence and panache.

Mutton

* 'Hilariously accurate. The funniest novel about the female mid-life crisis' The Times * 
 
Clara Hutt is forty-six years old, and in pretty good nick, considering. She has kick-ass underwear, a large and loving family, and a healthy sense of what matters in life. Until Gaby moves in. 
 
Gaby's an old school friend of Clara's who has just returned from LA. She may be a yoga mogul who lives off kale, and speaks a made-up fantasy novel language, but Gaby's no stranger to cosmetic surgery: she's almost fifty, but looks thirty-six at most. 
 
What with Gaby, and Clara's son's leggy girlfriend, Sky, wafting around the house in her stripy pants, Clara starts to wonder if a little Botox, a little filler, a nip and a tuck, would be so very wrong. Should she ignore the fear? Or is there another way to grow old gracefully - and how far is she prepared to go to find out? 
 
'Had me reaching for the hankie as I wept with laughter from start to finish' Evening Standard 
 
'A brilliant mix of humour and heart . . . offers a witty take on the ageing process, delivered in Knight's usual pithy, thought-provoking style' Grazia 
 
'Tear-inducingly funny . . . we love this story' Closer 
 
'Gleeful. A frank and funny novel of Harley Street makeovers and matronly madness' Independent 
 
India Knight is the author of three previous novels: My Life on a Plate, Don't You Want Me and Comfort and Joy. Her non-fiction books include The Shops, the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook and The Thrift Book. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her three children.

Every so often you will hit a line so funny and true it will make you gasp out loud . . . sharp and bracing as a Claridges martini

Had me choking with laughter . . . Knight has pulled off a clever trick here. With humour and wit, she's addressed the serious subject of how to swallow the bitter pill of ageing not necessarily gracefully

The glorious fourth novel from Sunday Times columnist India Knight . . . An honest, funny book about the complexities of middle age and a reminder that life is for living, with passion and gusto, whatever your age

A very funny exploration of ageing written with the author's trademark wit

The funniest novel about the female midlife crisis

Breathless, &shy;colourful, hilarious and honest

India Knight is the author of three previous novels: My Life on a Plate, Don't You Want Me and Comfort and Joy. Her non-fiction books include The Shops, the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook and The Thrift Book. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her three children.

Clara Hutt is forty-six years old, and in pretty good nick, considering. She has kick-ass underwear, a large and loving family, and a healthy sense of what matters in life. Until Gaby moves in. 
 
Gaby's an old school friend of Clara's who has just returned from LA. She may be a yoga mogul who lives off kale, and speaks a made-up fantasy novel language, but Gaby's no stranger to cosmetic surgery: she's almost fifty, but looks thirty-six at most. 
 
What with Gaby, and Clara's son's leggy girlfriend, Sky, wafting around the house in her stripy pants, Clara starts to wonder if a little Botox, a little filler, a nip and a tuck, would be so very wrong. Should she ignore the fear? Or is there another way to grow old gracefully - and how far is she prepared to go to find out?

Comfort and Joy

Bestselling writer India Knight explores the inevitable panic that family and Christmas bring in her third novel Comfort and Joy. 
 
'I'd say Christmas was about hope. Yeah. Hope. And optimism. It's like the fairy tales in the window: for families, every Christmas is a new opportunity for Happy Ever After. No pressure, then...' 
 
Oxford Street, two shopping days left to Christmas, and wife and mum Clara Dunphy is desperately, madly trying to make everything, not perfect, but just right for her extended family on the greatest day of the year. But then she gets distracted. . . 
 
'Will make you laugh, maybe make you cry and keep you reading past bedtime' Lauren Laverne, Grazia 
 
'A hilarious, bawdy, yet touching portrait of Christmas' Jilly Cooper, Guardian 
 
'Hilarious and honest; the dialogue is sitcom-snappy and the opening scenes in Oxford Street positively Joycean' Daily Mail 
 
India Knight is the author of four novels: My Life on a Plate, Don't You Want Me, Comfort and Joy and Mutton. Her non-fiction books include The Shops, the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook and The Thrift Book. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her three children.Follow India on Twitter @indiaknight or on her blog at http://indiaknight.tumblr.com.

Breathless, &shy;colourful, hilarious and honest; the dialogue is sitcom-snappy and the opening scenes in Oxford Street positively Joycean

So kindly and funny and affectionate that you could probably warm your hands on it. Miraculously, this is a feel-good story that manages not to be saccharine. There are a great many good jokes here . . . but concealed amid the fun, like silver coins in a Christmas pudding, is a serious theme. This is a book you could safely give to practically anyone. Snap up plenty of copies to hand around under the tree

I loved Comfort and Joy, a hilarious, bawdy yet touching portrait of Christmas over three years

Fabulous. Laugh-out-loud funny, moving and as cuddly as Santa Claus, this is perfect for snuggling up with over the Christmas holidays

Touching...it will make you laugh, maybe make you cry and keep you reading past bedtime

A wickedly funny, painfully honest look at families, festivities and romantic love

Tender, tough, schmaltzy, witty and heart-warming all at once. Knight has a great comic touch - there are some wonderfully rude bits and a fantastic rant about the ridiculous expectations piled on 21st-century women to be perfect - and writes with a deceptive lightness. At the heart of this funny, affectionate novel is an acknowledgement that families, like love, come in odd shapes and sizes, and that both matter more than anything

Witty enough to make you laugh out loud, but there are moments of real emotion that keep the book from being too light

A superb ear for dialogue...wonderfully comic

Riotously high in laughs and glamour. I defy a festive grump not to be cheered by it

India Knight is the author of two previous novels: My Life on a Plate and Don't You Want Me. Her non-fiction books include The Shops, the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook and The Thrift Book. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her three children.

'I'd say Christmas was about hope. Yeah. Hope. And optimism. It's like the fairy tales in the window: for families, every Christmas is a new opportunity for Happy Ever After. No pressure, then . . .' 
 
Oxford Street, two shopping days left to Christmas, and wife and mum Clara Dunphy is desperately, madly trying to make everything, not perfect, but just right for her extended family on the greatest day of the year. But then she gets distracted . . .

My Life On a Plate

My Life on a Plate is the hilarious and moving first novel by bestselling author India Knight. 
 
Does secretly fantasizing about buying slut shoes and see-through tops make you a Bad Mother? What about wearing pyjama bottoms on the school run? 
 
Clare Hutt (known to herself as Jabba the) has put her foxy single days very much behind her (rather like her cellulite), and has Got Her Man. 
 
She has a nice house, adorable children who only annoy her 90 per cent of the time, a large, eccentric and charming family, and an attractive (but increasingly mysterious) husband. And she gets to have regular sex . . . well, ish. Anyway, what the hell, it's only loins . . . 
 
Everyone wants to be married - don't they? 
 
 
'Made me laugh out loud. Does for divorcees what Bridget Jones's Diary did for singletons' Lynn Barber, Daily Telegraph 
 
'Brilliantly funny' Vogue 
 
'A sharp, witty novel . . .. groundbreaking in women's fiction in that it attempts to investigate modern marriage: what it does to women, to their sex drive and their sense of self' Marie Claire 
 
'That rare thing: the lightweight comic novel that is well written, neatly constructed and actually funny' Guardian 
 
'A comic tour de force' Daily Telegraph 
 
India Knight is the author of four novels: My Life on a Plate, Don't You Want Me, Comfort and Joy and Mutton. Her non-fiction books include The Shops, the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook and The Thrift Book. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her three children.Follow India on Twitter @indiaknight or on her blog at http://indiaknight.tumblr.com.

A wickedly funny and painfully honest comic novel. It's a triumph

Made me laugh out loud. Does for divorcees what Bridget Jones's Diary did for singletons

The funniest novel of the year. A brilliant take on modern matrimony

A sharp, witty novel...groundbreaking in women's fiction in that it attempts to investigate modern marriage: what it does to women, to their sex drive and their sense of self

That rare thing: the lightweight comic novel that is well written, neatly constructed and actually funny

Clara is a thoroughly engaging, modern heroine who never descends into head-clutching cuteness. If India Knight doesn't produce a sequel, sharpish, she needs her head examined

India Knight is the author of three novels: My Life on a Plate, Don't You Want Me? and Comfort and Joy. Her non-fiction books include The Shops, the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook and The Thrift Book. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her three children.

Does secretly fantasizing about buying slut shoes and see-through tops make you a Bad Mother? What about wearing pyjama bottoms on the school run? 
 
Clare Hutt (known to herself as Jabba the) has put her foxy single days very much behind her (rather like her cellulite), and has Got Her Man. 
 
She has a nice house, adorable children who only annoy her 90 per cent of the time, a large, eccentric and charming family, and an attractive (but increasingly mysterious) husband. And she gets to have regular sex ... well, ish. Anyway, what the hell, it's only loins ... 
 
Everyone wants to be married - don't they? 
 
India Knight will make you weep with laughter in this hilarious and moving novel, which proves that you can still be Married and Minxy; or possibly just that Solid Torso Action Man, MAC make-up, pumpkin ravioli and Manolo shoes do have something in common.

India Knight

Darlings, India Knight is a LEGEND in the beauty industry, I am OBSESSED with her column because you can trust her to get it right every single time!

Women shouldn't aim to look younger, they should aim to look better, and India Knight totally gets that. Her beauty advice is solid gold

The Sunday Times columnist brings us a compendium of her essential advice for midlife beauty. From why certain makeup no longer flatters as it used to, to skincare for your neck, this is brimming with practical wisdom.

inews, The best new books to read in November 2023

Everything India Knight writes about turns to gold ... Demystifies the world of cosmetics with her usual matter-of-fact wit

With beauty, as with so much else, knowledge is power. 
Here's all of mine. 
 
Why has my favourite eyeliner stopped looking flattering? 
What can I do about the skin on my neck? 
Am I too old for contour? What is contour? 
 
Every week, tens of thousands of women turn to India Knight's beauty column in the Sunday Times Style Magazine, to be directed to beauty products that really work by someone they can trust - and who understands how much this stuff matters. 
 
It matters because looking, and therefore feeling, like yourself at every stage of life is fundamental. 
 
In this brilliant, essential, reassuring book, India has distilled her beauty wisdom into practical advice for every part of the face and beyond: from tips for thinning lips and thinning hair, to the best skincare for older faces, to the make-up products that really make a difference, to demystifying the scientific jargon beloved by the beauty industry. 
 
If you would rather not use 35 products on your face every morning or watch how-to videos on TikTok, or if you have ever looked in the mirror and found yourself thinking 'Who is that?', then India Knight's Beauty Edit is the book you've been waiting for. 
 
It is a glorious and indispensable celebration of how to be old(er) with minimum fuss and a generous helping of grace, confidence and style.

India Knight

Praise for India Knight's Beauty Edit

Darlings, India Knight is a LEGEND in the beauty industry, I am OBSESSED with her column because you can trust her to get it right every single time!

I love India's beauty advice

Women shouldn't aim to look younger, they should aim to look better, and India Knight totally gets that. Her beauty advice is solid gold

Darlings, India Knight is a LEGEND in the beauty industry, I am OBSESSED with her column because you can trust her to get it right every single time!

I love India's beauty advice

Women shouldn't aim to look younger, they should aim to look better, and India Knight totally gets that. Her beauty advice is solid gold

Darlings, India Knight is a LEGEND in the beauty industry, I am OBSESSED with her column because you can trust her to get it right every single time!

I love India's beauty advice

Women shouldn't aim to look younger, they should aim to look better, and India Knight totally gets that. Her beauty advice is solid gold

Books by India Knight

Articles featuring India Knight

7 extremely funny books written by women

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