Nancy Mitford Books

Nancy Mitford modelled the characters in her best-known novels on her own unconventional (and at the time of writing, notorious) family. We are introduced to the Radletts through the eyes of their cousin, Fanny ('the Bolter's girl'), on one of her frequent visits to their country estate: Uncle Matthew the blustering patriarch, owner of that bloodied entrenching tool above the fireplace, who hunts his children with bloodhounds; vague Aunt Sadie, and six children recklessly eager to grow up. The Pursuit of Love is the story of Linda, the most beautiful and wayward of the Radlett daughters, who falls first for a stuffy Tory politician, then an ardent Communist (whom she follows to the Spanish Civil War), and finally a very wicked and irresistibly charming French duke. Love in a Cold Climate, again related by Fanny, focuses on Polly Hampton, long groomed for the perfect marriage by her fearsome mother, Lady Montdore, but secretly determined to pursue her own course.

The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford. Here in one volume are all eight of Nancy Mitford's sparklingly astute, hilarious and completely unputdownable novels: Highland Fling, Christmas Pudding, Wigs on the Green, Pigeon Pie, The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate, The Blessing and Don't Tell Alfred. Published over a period of 30 years, they provide a wonderful glimpse of the bright young things of the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties in the city and in the shires; firmly ensconced at home or making a go of it abroad; and what the upper classes really got up to in peace and in war. 'Entirely original, inimitable and irresistible' Spectator 'Deliciously funny' Evelyn Waugh 'Utter, utter bliss' Daily Mail

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Each Reader contains grammar and vocabulary exercises, and exam skills practise.

Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh were two of the twentieth century's most amusing and gifted writers, who matched wits and traded literary advice in more than five hundred letters over twenty-two years. Dissecting their friends, criticizing each other's books and concealing their true feelings beneath a barrage of hilarious and knowing repartee, they found it far easier to conduct a friendship on paper than in person. This correspondence provides a colourful glimpse into the literary and social circles of London and Paris, during the Second World War and for twenty years after.

When fashionable Bright Young People meet the old regime on a Scottish grouse moor, the real sport begins. Albert Gates, a surrealist painter of impeccable family, is given to outrageous pranks; Jane Dacre finds him irresistible but the crusty older members of the shooting party are less keen. His victims include Lady Prague, whom he haunts disguised as the castle ghost, and General Murgatroyd, who will never willingly shake hands with a foreigner. The comically ill-assorted house-party encapsulates perfectly the high-society glamour of the decade before the Second World War. ‘Oh, now do tell me, I’m so interested in art, what do you chiefly go in for? I mean – water-colours or oils?’ ‘My principal medium is what you would call oils. Gouache, tempera and prepared dung are mediums I never neglect, while my bead, straw and button pictures have aroused a great deal of criticism not by any means all unfavourable.’ ‘It always seems to me a great pity to go in for oils unless you’re really good. Now Prague’s sister has a girl who draws quite nicely and she wanted to go Paris, but I said to her parents, “Why let her learn oils. There are too many oil paintings in the world already.”’

The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford, with an introduction by India Knight, collects all eight of her witty and insightful novels in one volume for the first time in years. Spanning three decades, these works offer a vivid portrayal of the vibrant young socialites of the thirties through the sixties, exploring their lives both at home and abroad, and revealing the antics of the upper classes during peacetime and wartime. Celebrated for their originality and humor, Mitford's novels have garnered praise from notable figures, including Evelyn Waugh and the Daily Mail. Born in London in 1904, Mitford was the eldest of the second Baron Redesdale's six children. Her upbringing in a large country house with her siblings is reflected in her semi-autobiographical work, The Pursuit of Love (1945), which marked her breakthrough. Following this success, she wrote several more novels, including Love in a Cold Climate (1949) and Don't Tell Alfred (1960). Mitford also authored acclaimed biographies and translated classic works, contributing significantly to literature and cultural commentary. She was honored with a CBE in 1972, leaving a lasting legacy as a novelist and biographer.

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Few aristocratic English families of the twentieth century enjoyed the glamorous notoriety of the infamous Mitford sisters. Nancy Mitford's most famous novel, The Pursuit of Love satirizes British aristocracy in the twenties and thirties through the amorous adventures of the Radletts, an exuberantly unconventional family closely modelled on Mitford's own.The Radletts of Alconleigh occupy the heights of genteel eccentricity, from terrifying Lord Alconleigh (who, like Mitford's father, used to hunt his children with bloodhounds when foxes were not available), to his gentle wife, Sadie, their wayward daughter Linda, and the other six lively Radlett children. Mitford's wickedly funny prose follows these characters through misguided marriages and dramatic love affairs, as the shadow of World War II begins to close in on their rapidly vanishing world.

Nancy Mitford's "The English Aristocracy" in 1955 sparked off the great debate about U and non-U usage. The articles collected here include contributions from Alan Ross, Evelyn Waugh, "Strix", Christopher Sykes, and John Betjeman.

First published in 1954, this is an evocation of Louis XV's court at Versailles. The political and religious complications of the time are explained and put into context, while the complex characters are brought vividly to life.

After the war, English rose Grace joins her dashing aristocratic husband, Charles-Edouard, in France. She is out of her depth among the elegant French women and when she discovers her husband's tendency to lust after pretty girls, it seems that all is over - until her son Sigismund steps in

Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found hereOne of Nancy Mitford’s most beloved novels, Love in a Cold Climate is a sparkling romantic comedy that vividly evokes the lost glamour of aristocratic life in England between the wars.Polly Hampton has long been groomed for the perfect marriage by her mother, the fearsome and ambitious Lady Montdore. But Polly, with her stunning good looks and impeccable connections, is bored by the monotony of her glittering debut season in London. Having just come from India, where her father served as Viceroy, she claims to have hoped that society in a colder climate would be less obsessed with love affairs. The apparently aloof and indifferent Polly has a long-held secret, however, one that leads to the shattering of her mother’s dreams and her own disinheritance. When an elderly duke begins pursuing the disgraced Polly and a callow potential heir curries favor with her parents, nothing goes as expected, but in the end all find happiness in their own unconventional ways.

Biography of Frederick the Great (1712-86) king of Prussia

In 1733, the lovely, intelligent, and married Marquise du Châtelet commenced her romance with one François-Marie Arouet, a philosophe who had made a name for himself as "Voltaire." Mitford deftly and engagingly recounts their exemplary affair, whether in studious exile in the country, on the run from the censor, or in the "thoughtless circles of high society." Her portrayals of the "scamp" philosopher, his mistress who was "excessive in everything," and their "irregular century" are delightful portraits in themselves and as a group, a fascinating fresco of the French Enlightenment.

Don't Tell Alfred is the wickedly funny sequel to Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. 'I believe it would have been normal for me to have paid a visit to the outgoing ambassadress. However the said ambassadress had set up such an uninhibited wail when she knew she was to leave, proclaiming her misery to all and sundry and refusing so furiously to look on the bright side, that it was felt she might not be very nice to me.' Fanny is married to absent-minded Oxford don Alfred and content with her role as a plain, tweedy housewife. But overnight her life changes when Alfred is appointed English Ambassador to Paris. In the blink of an eye, Fanny's mixing with royalty, Rothschilds and Dior-clad wives, throwing cocktail parties and having every indiscreet remark printed in tomorrow's papers. But with the love lives of her new friends to organize, an aristocratic squatter who won't budge and the antics of her maverick sons to thwart, Fanny's far too busy to worry about the diplomatic crisis looming on the horizon. . . Don't Tell Alfred continues the histories of the characters Nancy Mitford introduced in The Pursuit of Love. 'A comic genius' Independent on Sunday 'Deliciously funny' Evelyn Waugh

En A la caza del amor , su novela de mayor éxito, Nancy Mitford utiliza elementos reales de su extravagante y famosa familia para construir el relato. La acción se abre en el salón de Alconleigh, la casa de campo de los Radlett. Ante nuestros ojos van desfilando los distintos miembros de la familia: el malhumorado padre, Matthew, con sus violentos y cómicos estallidos de cólera y sus curiosos pasatiempos, como organizar cacerías en las que las piezas son alguno de sus hijos...; la ausente y devota madre, Sadie; y los siete hijos que junto a su prima Fanny forman una estrafalaria y divertidísima familia. Pero realmente es la joven Linda Radlett y su permanente búsqueda del amor el auténtico centro de la historia. A través de estas páginas la acompañaremos en su azarosa conquista y conoceremos a los distintos hombres en los que creyó encontrarlo. El texto despliega el famoso ingenio satírico y la extra­ordinaria capacidad de la autora para reconstruir el ambiente, la vida y las personas en los círculos aristocráticos ingleses de entreguerras. Un libro inteligente y divertido, que, aunque pudiera gustar simplemente por lo que es: una novela vibrante y mordaz, es también un verdadero trozo de vida.

Der Schriftsteller Paul Fotheringay kann es nicht fassen: Nicht genug, dass ihn seine Angebetete Marcella verschmäht. Sein tödlich ernstes Romandebüt wird von der Presse als das lustigste Buch des Jahres gefeiert. Um zumindest seinen literarischen Ruf wiederherzustellen, recherchiert er für eine Biografie über die viktorianische Schriftstellerin Mary Bobbin und schleicht sich auf Compton Bobbin, dem Anwesen ihrer jagdbesessenen Nachfahrin, ein. Lady Bobbin organisiert dort eine Weihnachtsfeier mit wild zusammengewürfelten Gästen: Es treffen u. a. ihre rebellische Tochter Philadelphia, deren Schar an Verehrern und eine Horde ungezogener Kinder aufeinander. Und dann ist da noch Pauls Bekannte, die schöne Ex-Kurtisane Amabelle Fortescue, die ihre Feiertage zufällig in einem nahegelegenen Cottage verbringt ... Je deutlicher wird, wie wenig die Gäste der Weihnachtsgesellschaft zusammenpassen, desto vergnüglicher die Lektüre: Nancy Mitfords zweiter Roman, erstmals 1932 veröffentlicht, ist ein köstlich amüsanter Ausflug in die Welt der Reichen und (nicht immer) Schönen. Mitfords bissiger Humor und Sinn für Situationskomik lässt kein Auge trocken.

Sie waren schön, exzentrisch und vernarrt in Hitler. Aber als Nancy sie in diesem Roman parodiert hatte, redeten ihre Schwestern kein Wort mehr mit ihr. Nancy Mitfords legendärer Schlüsselroman erstmals auf Deutsch. Chalford, eine idyllische Kleinstadt in den 30er Jahren. Eugenia, hoffnungsvolle Erbin des Malmain-Anwesens, macht ihrer Großmutter Kummer. Seit sie ihren treuen Begleiter „Reichshund“ ruft, auf Regentonnen vor gelangweilten Hausfrauen faschistische Parolen skandiert und ihre Freunde mit erhobenem Arm begrüßt, fürchtet die Großmutter um den Frieden in ihrem Haus. Erst als zwei junge Männer aus der Stadt mit ausgezeichneten Manieren auftauchen, schöpft sie Hoffnung. Oder sind Jasper und Noel nur auf eine Mitgift aus? Während der Regen unaufhörlich auf Chalford niederprasselt, erlebt das Städtchen seine glanzvollste Zeit: es wird zum Schauplatz von Liebe und Leidenschaft, Geld und Betrug, Politik und Weltgeschehen. Ein herrliches Theater!

Rok 1733 byl prvním z šestnácti let, které byly pro Voltaira svým způsobem nejkrásnější životní etapou. Francie Ludvíka XV. se svým volnomyšlenkářským přístupem k životu a řadou slavných veličin tvoří pozadí milostného příběhu proslulého filozofa a básníka a jeho milenky, krásné a cílevědomé markýzy du Chatelet. Autorka respektuje fakta, pracuje s historickými osobami a vychází ze známých událostí, její sondy do myšlení postav a hledání skutečných motivů jejich činů jsou ovšem samozřejmě pouhou fikcí.