The best novels of Nancy Mitford (2024)

Love this book, it's a favourite of mine.
I love the style of writing, the language & the wonderfully trite humour. Written at a time when "being gay" meant being a "bright young thing" & somethings could be horrid or frightfully serious & queer meant odd or strange.

For eg: Nancy Mitford/Quotes

I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away.

I think housework is far more tiring and frightening than hunting is, no comparison, and yet after hunting we had eggs for tea and were made to rest for hours, but after housework people expect one to go on just as if nothing special had happened.

I have only ever read one book in my life, and that is White Fang. It's so frightfully good I've never bothered to read another.

To fall in love you have to be in the state of mind for it to take, like a disease.

An aristocracy in a republic is like a chicken whose head has been cut off; it may run about in a lively way, but in fact it is dead.

The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life's essential unfairness.

There are worse things than poverty, though I can't for the moment remember what they are ...

Didn't think I'd like this as much as I did. After reading "The Mitford Girls" I thought I'd give this a go. Pure 30/40's decadence

I have enjoyed many of Nancy Mitford’s books.

She often explores history through relationships and love (Pompadour, Voltaire, Sun King) which I find vastly superior to the usual exploration of violence and war in history.

Her fictional works are charmingly written, using humor and an excellent command of English.

After the first episode of the new serialisation of the Pursuit of Love, I decided a reread was called for. I have been passionate about Nancy Mitford since my teens and it is like snuggling up in a warm blanket. These stories are the best ever written about this period in history. The jury is still out on the TV adaptation!

Inspired to dig out my old copy of this collection by the recent TV series, I read two of the books - The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate over my weekend off, with the other two saved up for later. Oh, the bliss of it!! Just what I needed: silliness, fun, lines that made me laugh out loud, and gorgeous characters.

The Pursuit of Love and its sequel, Love in a Cold Climate, follow Fanny (the narrator, daughter of 'The Bolter') as she tells the stories of the Radlett family and later the Hamptons. Lots of balls, gossip, and an obsession with love and romance (which always falls flat) set between the walls. The dialogue is hilarious - I adore Lord Merlin and Davey - and the descriptions of the clothes are divine. It's worth reading just to enjoy Great Uncle Matthew - though of course, his views are horrendous and certainly not ones I would support!

I know many people dismiss Nancy Mitford as froth but I don't agree. I love every line and just skip over anything that is 'A Product Of Its Time'. It's deliciously entertaining and I could sit with a bun and a pot of tea and just read it endlessly. This must be the tenth time I've read these books in my lifetime. I found a train ticket being used as a bookmark from 1987! So I've had this book for a long time. As you can see, it's seen better days and has been dropped in the bath many times, sellotape is the only thing holding it together so I have treated myself to Folio editions of two of the books. If you haven't read Mitford you are in for a treat. Nancy's letters are also absolutely brilliant, and her sisters Jessica and Deborah have also written highly enjoyable books including memoirs.

[image error]

I've been sick for a week now (insert appropriately self-pitying raspberry) and this has been a great couch companion. How had I not read the Mitfords before? The best word to describe the three novels collected here is sly. I love Fanny & Linda & Uncle Matthew and especially Davey. I learned that the "cold climate" is actually, gasp, a metaphor, although descriptions of the literal drafts and lack of heating in '40s English houses made me clutch my hot water bottle close. The third novel, The Blessing, is a little less wonderful, but I still loved the descriptions of the south of France (who wouldn't?) and the clothes in Paris, and all the catty lovers. It's good that I'm finished with this, because it really makes me want to go around saying things like "Darling, it was heaps of fun!" and "One could never imagine!" and you CAN imagine how tiresome that would get.

What a treasure! After reading her sister Jessica's memoir, I had to read Nancy's fiction. It is packed full of humor, memorable characters, and delicious historic details. For some reason I dragged through the last novel, Don't Tell Aldred, some passages were tedious, but I still really enjoyed it. Worthwhile reading!

Probably my all time favourite book (if an anthology can be called a book) such a sense of another time, ever since reading this, in my mid teens I have wanted a baby doormouse, and to live in a house with airing cupboards big enough to sit in - and to call people 'filthy sewers'.

A Lizzie-inspired read. I love Nancy Mitford... I think mosty I just love reading 1940s English novels but - no matter.