Sandi Toksvig – författare

Pre-order Sandi Toksvig's new novel FRIENDS OF DOROTHY now - coming in September 2024The long-awaited memoir from one of Britain's best-loved characters - presenter of QI, former host of The Great British Bake Off'Wise and kind... part celebration, part confession... it will make you miss your stop' Observer'A fun-filled, fact-packed, memorable ride' Sunday Times'Life-affirming and addictive' Sunday ExpressBetween the Stops is a sort of a memoir, my sort. It's about a bus trip really, because it's my view from the Number 12 bus. From a brief history of lady gangsters at Elephant and Castle to anecdotes about boarding school, this is the long-awaited memoir from one of Britain's best-loved characters. Presenter of QI, former host of The Great British Bake Off, writer, broadcaster, activist and comic on stage, screen and radio for nearly forty years: this is an autobiography with a difference - as only Sandi Toksvig can tell it. A funny and moving trip through memories, musings and the many delights on the number 12 route, Between the Stops is also an inspiration to us all to get off our phones, look up and talk to each other because as Sandi says: 'some of the greatest trips lie on our own doorstep'.

NOW IN PAPERBACK - THE FUNNY, WISE AND BRILLIANT NOVEL FROM THE STAR OF QISHORTLISTED FOR THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION'Warm, witty and wise . . . the perfect balm for these turbulent times' GRAHAM NORTONAfter much searching, the happily married young couple, Amber and Stevie think they have found the perfect spot in Grimaldi Square. Despite the rundown pub across the way, the overgrown garden and a decidedly nosy neighbour, number 4 is the house of their dreams. Stevie, a woman who has never left anything to chance, has planned everything so nothing can spoil their happiness. But upstairs in their new home, seated on an old red sofa is the woman they bought the place from - eighty-year-old foul-mouthed, straight-talking, wise-cracking Dorothy - who has decided that she's not going anywhere. It turns out that Dorothy will be only the first in a line of life-changing surprises.Friends of Dorothy is a touching, funny novel about a family that is not biological, but logical; a story close to Sandi Toksvig's heart.Readers can't get enough of Friends of Dorothy:'Superb. Buy this book . . . Enjoyed it so much that I feel like starting at the beginning again' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I absolutely adored this book! I hope to be half as hilarious as Dorothy when I reach my 70s' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I literally read this in 24 hours and really could not put it down' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'It's a rare thing to find a novel that's warm and funny, but in no way cheesy or predictable . . . can't wait to re-read!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A great big warm hug of a book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I would give this six stars if I could' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The funny, wise and brilliant new novel from the star of QI and the author of Between the StopsAfter much searching, the happily married young couple, Amber and Stevie think they have found the perfect spot in Grimaldi Square. Despite the rundown pub across the way, the overgrown garden and a decidedly nosy neighbour, number 4 is the house of their dreams. Stevie, a woman who has never left anything to chance, has planned everything so nothing can spoil their happiness. But ... upstairs in their new home, seated on an old red sofa is the woman they bought the place from - eighty-year-old foul-mouthed, straight-talking, wise-cracking Dorothy - who has decided that she's not going anywhere. It turns out that Dorothy will be only the first in a line of life-changing surprises. Friends of Dorothy is a touching, funny novel about a family that is not biological, but logical; a story close to Sandi Toksvig's heart.EVERYONE LOVES SANDI TOKSVIG!'Life-affirming and addictive' SUNDAY EXPRESS'Wise and kind ... it will make you miss your stop' OBSERVER

The funny, wise and brilliant new novel from the star of QI and the author of Between the Stops - an instant Sunday Times bestseller'Warm, witty and wise . . . the perfect balm for these turbulent times' GRAHAM NORTONAfter much searching, the happily married young couple, Amber and Stevie think they have found the perfect spot in Grimaldi Square. Despite the rundown pub across the way, the overgrown garden and a decidedly nosy neighbour, number 4 is the house of their dreams. Stevie, a woman who has never left anything to chance, has planned everything so nothing can spoil their happiness. But upstairs in their new home, seated on an old red sofa is the woman they bought the place from - eighty-year-old foul-mouthed, straight-talking, wise-cracking Dorothy - who has decided that she's not going anywhere. It turns out that Dorothy will be only the first in a line of life-changing surprises. Friends of Dorothy is a touching, funny novel about a family that is not biological, but logical; a story close to Sandi Toksvig's heart.Readers can't get enough of Friends of Dorothy!'Superb. Buy this book . . . Enjoyed it so much that I feel like starting at the beginning again' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I absolutely adored this book! I hope to be half as hilarious as Dorothy when I reach my 70s' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I literally read this in 24 hours and really could not put it down' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'It's a rare thing to find a novel that's warm and funny, but in no way cheesy or predictable . . . can't wait to re-read!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A great big warm hug of a book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I would give this six stars if I could' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the author of BETWEEN THE STOPS and TOKSVIG'S ALMANAC'Teasing out untold stories of the battlefield . . . follows the footsteps of the likes of Sarah Waters and Pat Barker' Independent London, 1897. A young girl, Valentine Grey, arrives in England. She's been brought up in the remote and sunny climes of India and finds being forced into corsets and skirts in damp and cold country insufferable. The only bright spot: her exciting cousin, Reggie. Reggie, and his lover Frank seek out the adventure the clandestine bars and streets of London offer and are happy to include Valentine in their secret, showing her theatre, gardens - even teaching her how to ride a bicycle. And then comes the Boer War and Reggie's father volunteers him; the empire must be defended. But it won't be Reggie who dons the Volunteer Regiment's garb. Valentine takes her chance, puts on her cousin's uniform, leaving Reggie behind and heads off to war. And for a long while it's glorious and liberating for both of the cousins, but war is not glorious and in Victorian London homosexuality is not liberating . . .

1940. Copenagen, Denmark. The German troops have invaded.A must-read account of immense courage during the Second World War, for children. Based on real-life events experienced by Sandi Toksvig's family during the Nazi occupation of Denmark.Ten-year-old Bamse Skovlund and his best friend Anton have been ordered to stay out of trouble.It soon becomes clear that trouble isn't just going to pass any of them by.Jewish Danes are subject to appalling treatment by the German occupiers, and every day are at risk of being taken away to concentration camps in mainland Europe.The Skovlund family are determined to fight against Nazi occupation. And if this means participating in one of history's most dramatic rescue missions, then it's time to take a stand.A tale of resistance in Nazi-occupied Denmark. The book is inspired by the stories told to Sandi Toksvig by her father, Bamse.Praise for Hitler's Canary:'An extraordinary story... truly life-affirming.' Michael Morpurgo'There are not many classic children's novels about the Second World War but this is one of them.' The Times'Racily written and full of comic incident as well as suspense.' The Independent'Brilliantly told... never loses sight of the child's view of war.' The Guardian

When Amber, the littlest Viking, set out from Scandinavia to seek her fortune she must have got lost on her way! Now she's in Pegwell Bay with no one but her pet squirrel for company. When Katie, Gary and Joshua find her stranded on the beach, they decide to look after her. Now there's a Viking living in their garden!Having a Viking in the family isn't always easy. But when the garden is threatened by a nasty neighbour, Amber has some unusual - and hilarious - solutions to their problems . . .

When Jessica brings her granny into school for 'Unusual Day' Miss Johnson thinks she's got muddled up with 'Family Day'. Her granny may be wearing a tracksuit and trainers, but she still looks like a fairly ordinary granny. However, when 'Unusual Day' is disrupted by a fire next door, everybody discovers just how unusual Jessica's granny is...

When Jessica loses her first tooth, Granny tells her to watch out for a trainee tooth fairy. That shimmering little creature might look the part in her purple and silver outfit but she's not too sure of her job. As Granny knows, the trainee tooth fairy has been known to whisk away more than just the lost tooth...Jessica and her granny, stars of UNUSUAL DAY, are back in another entertaining story from popular writer, comedian and broadcaster, Sandi Toksvig.

Because of the potato me and my family left our home and travelled 6,000 miles to find a new life . . .Slim Hannigan and her family are poor but happy. Theirs is a life filled with love and laughter - and a pet pig called Hamlet. But things change overnight, and suddenly they find themselves facing hunger and danger like they have never known . . . So they leave their village in Ireland to journey to America where, they hope, family and fortune await them.Slim soon finds herself living a life that feels just like one of those far-fetched stories her Da has always told. Can one brave girl keep her family together no matter what is thrown at them . . . ?

11-year-old Slim Hannigan and her family left their home in Ireland to travel to America - in search of a better life. It has been so long and such a journey that Slim Hannigan and the rest of her family can't even imagine what home looks like anymore. And there are many, many miles across America for them to travel before they reach their destination.Between them and the home of their uncle lie thousands of miles of dangerous land, wild animals and strangers who do not wish them well. Slim has to draw on bravery like she's never known to keep her family together and to keep them moving forward.

Inge Holbrook has lived the highlife ever since she left her sleepy Home Counties hometown of Edenford. Still fantastically fit at forty-plus, she has gone from Olympic gold medallist to becoming one of the 'faces' of the BBC. Blonde (since '87), tanned (since Christmas in the Caribbean) long legs (since for ever), she has an aura of success that never fails to be attractive.Eve Marshall hasn't. Catching her reflection in a tinfoil turkey display at her local supermarket, she sees someone old and fat, someone who looks like somebody's mother. Unlike her school friend Inge, Eve never left suburbia. Her contribution to the world wasn't to write or invent or win anything, but her two children, Tom and Shirley. Inge and Eve are part of the same generation, grew up in the same town, went to the same school together. But adult life has left them with nothing in common apart from their past - until the summer when their lives become entwined again, when one becomes a killer, and the other approves ...

There are two basic types of animal in Nature's Kingdom. The first, like lions and turtles, produce many offspring and simply hope that some will survive. The second, like elephants and people, produce one or two at long intervals and make great efforts to rear them. My mother belonged in a class of her own. She produced two at short intervals and made no effort to rear them whatsoever.Thus Dorothy, aged ten, finds herself making her own way in Sassaspaneck, New York in 1968. Her English father, who never talks above a whisper due to a youthful injury with a cricket ball, has tucked her and her mother away where the potential for embarrassment can be limited. All the other children in town have gone to camp, so Dorothy must provide her own entertainment. She comes across a small, faded zoo on the outskirts of town, and as she begins to get to know the eccentric group of women who live there she begins to discover a world way beyond the one she has glimpsed so far.

From the author of BETWEEN THE STOPS and TOKSVIG'S ALMANACIn the Autumn of 1971, having been thrown out of a rather fancy private school, Sandi Toksvig was sent to the only remaining option - Mamaroneck High School, New York. She was thirteen years old and that year changed her life. Sandi auditioned and was chosen for the lead role in a production of The Skin of our Teeth by Thornton Wilder. Three girls were cast in the part of Gladys Antrobus, playing her at different ages of her life, and Sandi was the youngest. The three actresses soon became known as the Gladys' and this was the beginning of a friendship with a group of females that still influences her to this day. Soon all the girls in the cast and crew were becoming members of The Gladys Society. In the end there were twelve of them.GLADYS REUNITED records Sandi's travels in America catching up with her eleven fellows. It is a biography, a travel journal and a portrait of American women today. It's about friendship but also about Sandi herself, as she explores the origins of her career as a performer and her sense of national identity - where exactly does she fit?

Frances Angel, drunk and disgruntled, arrives in Italy to attend the I Zingari Art School, leaving behind her dazzling career as a successful theatrical impresario and returning to a distant and painful past. She falls into an eclectic group of performance artists, ex soldiers and a housewife who really just wants to paint something to match her settee. In the village a scale replica of the La Scala opera house becomes the setting for the great drama of Francis' past to be played out on the world's smallest stage. Francis expected to find some answers but what she didn't expect was romance and quite so much farce.

How unbelievably dull my life was. I did everything I was supposed to. I was such a good girl. I lived in the house he chose and cleaned a dead woman’s furniture. I bought hats, who the hell wears a hat? And all the time I wanted to scream because I was so bored.On one dark and stormy night in the upper day room of the Silver Retirement Home, five elderly women are trading stories of their remarkable (or sometimes unremarkable) lives. With the storm floods rising and no rescue team in sight, the ladies are faced with the sudden realisation that in order to survive they are going to have to do what they have done for their entire lives – do it themselves!Silver Lining is a hilarious comedy by Sandi Toksvig. It tells the tale of a group of extraordinary yet forgotten women, who come together one treacherous night to recreate The Great Escape – senior-citizen style.It received its world premiere at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, on 3 February 2017 in a production by English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre, Kingston.

'Fierce, funny and long overdue - I read this book out loud to anyone who'd listen.' Adam Kay'Toksvig's Almanac is intended merely as a starting point for your own discoveries. Find a fabulous (or infamous) woman mentioned and, please, go looking for more of her story. The names mentioned are merely temptations. Amuse-bouches for the mind, if you like. How I would have loved to have written out in detail each tale there is to be told, but then this book would have been too heavy to lift.'Let Sandi Toksvig guide you on an eclectic meander through the calendar, illuminating neglected corners of history to tell tales of the fascinating figures you didn't learn about at school.From revolutionary women to serial killers, pirate nuns to pioneering civil rights activists, doctors to dancing girls, artists to astronauts, these pages commemorate women from all around the world who were pushed to the margins of historical record. Amuse your bouche with:Belle Star, American Bandit QueenLady Murasaki, author of the world's first novelMadame Ching, the most successful pirate of all timeMaud Wagner, the first female tattoo artistBegum Samru, Indian dancer and ruler who led an army of mercenariesInês de Castro, crowned Queen Consort of Portugal six years after her deathIda B. Wells, activist, suffragist, journalist and co-founder of the NAACPEleanor G. Holm, disqualified from the 1936 Berlin Olympics for drinking too much champagneThese stories are interspersed with helpful tips for the year, such as the month in which one is most likely to be eaten by a wolf, and the best time to sharpen your sickle. Explore a host of annual events worth travelling for, from the Olney Pancake Race in Wiltshire to the Danish Herring Festival, or who would want to miss Serbia's World Testicle Cooking Championship?As witty and entertaining as it is instructive, Toksvig's Almanac is an essential companion to each day of the year.

How do you get rid of unwanted guests? What do you do if there's a racket in the quiet carriage? How should you eat peas, and behave in queues? How to behave, like how to punctuate, is an aspect of life that many are no longer taught - and getting it wrong is the stuff of comedy at best and humiliation at worst. Thankfully, Sandi Toksvig has come to the rescue with her entertaining guide to modern manners,with tips on what to do whether you're talking to a bore, or forgot their name in the first place. (Just call them 'darling'.)The award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and writer offers guidance on the social pitfalls of every phase of life, from christenings to condolence letters. With characteristic wit and perceptiveness, and revealing the trickiest of her encounters along the way, she highlights decency rather than convention and provides an essential guide to twenty-first century behaviour.Now this down-to-earth, hilarious guide is available in perfect pocket-sized paperback size.

From the author of BETWEEN THE STOPS and TOKSVIG'S ALMANAC'Teasing out untold stories of the battlefield . . . follows the footsteps of the likes of Sarah Waters and Pat Barker' Independent London, 1897. A young girl, Valentine Grey, arrives in England. She's been brought up in the remote and sunny climes of India and finds being forced into corsets and skirts in damp and cold country insufferable. The only bright spot: her exciting cousin, Reggie. Reggie, and his lover Frank seek out the adventure the clandestine bars and streets of London offer and are happy to include Valentine in their secret, showing her theatre, gardens - even teaching her how to ride a bicycle. And then comes the Boer War and Reggie's father volunteers him; the empire must be defended. But it won't be Reggie who dons the Volunteer Regiment's garb. Valentine takes her chance, puts on her cousin's uniform, leaving Reggie behind and heads off to war. And for a long while it's glorious and liberating for both of the cousins, but war is not glorious and in Victorian London homosexuality is not liberating . . .

Sandi Toksvig - broadcaster, writer, actor, and seeker of all things whimsical, has turned her probing mind to many of the most intriguing questions of our times in the pages of the Sunday Telegraph for many years. Now, for the very first time, these musings have been collected in one hilarious collection. In The Chain of Curiosity, Sandi takes the reader on a side-splitting journey through life's peculiarities in a book packed with wit, wisdom and wonderment. From pondering the joys of World Pencil Day to examining the intricacies of applause etiquette, and from tip-toeing around the delicate art of school report vocabulary to researching the oddest way to meet a sticky end, the tickling tidbits and intriguing revelations contained within the book will delight Sandi's fans, both old and new.

A ferociously gripping play that tackles the challenging moral issues of contemporary military occupation and its effect on the mental health of serving soldiers with startling insight. Falklands War veteran Major Oscar Hadley is sent to a combat zone to probe allegations of severe misconduct by Eddie Clark, a young squaddie from Burnley and part of a self-styled ‘Bully Boy’ unit of the British Army. As the interrogation develops, Oscar begins to discover that ‘truth’ in a modern insurgency can be a point of view rather than a fact.Written with startling insight by author and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig, Bully Boy was first performed at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, in 2011.

It has never been more important to remember the girls and women who were written out of history. Just because we don't know about them and aren't taught about them in schools, it doesn't mean they weren't there. They achieved great things, concocted wonderful inventions and won battles. In this book, Sandi Toksvig tells us about the sheroes that have been ignored or overlooked, despite the fact that they changed our world. Perfect for fans of Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls and Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World, this is the book to show young people that anything is possible.