The Pursuit of Love / Love in a Cold Climate / The Blessing

by Nancy Mitford

'A masterpiece ... The Pursuit of Love is one of the funniest books ever written' India Knight, The Times

Nancy Mitford's brilliantly witty, irreverent stories of the upper classes in pre-war London and Paris conjure up a world of glamour, gossip and decadence. In The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate and The Blessing, her extraordinary heroines deal with armies of eccentric relatives, the excitement of love and passion, and the thrills of the social Season. But beneath the perfectly timed comic dialogue, these novels are also bittersweet reminders of the brevity of life and love.

With an Introduction by Philip Hensher

'A kind of perfection' Olivia Laing, Guardian

'Peerless ... beneath the surface of Mitford's wit, there is something infinitely more melancholy at work' Zoe Heller

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Humor, 20th Century, British Literature, Modern Classics, Romance

512 pages, Paperback

Published March 4, 2021

About the author

Nancy Mitford, styled The Hon. Nancy Mitford before her marriage and The Hon. Mrs Peter Rodd thereafter, was an English novelist and biographer, one of the Bright Young People on the London social scene in the inter-war years. She was born at 1 Graham Street (now Graham Place) in Belgravia, London, the eldest daughter of Lord Redesdale, and was brought up at Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire. She was the eldest of the six controversial Mitford sisters.

She is best remembered for her series of novels about upper-class life in England and France, particularly the four published after 1945; but she also wrote four well-received, well-researched popular biographies (of Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Frederick the Great). She was one of the noted Mitford sisters and the first to publicize the extraordinary family life of her very English and very eccentric family, giving rise to a "Mitford industry," which continues.

Reviews

[lucky little cat]

I can't review it yet, I've only read it once.

Favorite quotation:

'Is Lord Alconleigh your uncle then? Isn't he quite barmy? Doesn't he hunt people with bloodhounds by full moon?' . . .

'Oh, but we love it,' I began, ‘you can't imagine what fun—'

Well, of course Nancy's the one holding the bulldog.

25 hours, 185 wpm

[Ensiform · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sequel to The Pursuit of Love, this book has Fanny (married to a husband who may as well not exist, for the purposes of the book) watching in amazement as Polly, the great beauty of the season and daughter of the socially-conscious and fabulously wealthy Lady Montdore, refuses all suitors until finally claiming a husband amid such scandal she is disinherited. Enter Cedric, a fabulously outré homosexual, who now stands to inherit all, and who becomes fast friends with Lady Montdore, introducing her to all manner of self-improvement and Continental ideas about fashion.

As amusing as the first book was, this sequel is easily its superior; the officious, deluded, condescending Lady Montdore and the larger than life, colorful Cedric are both brilliant characters: unforgettable, unpredictable, hilarious, and strangely alluring despite their flaws. The humor here is also less subdued, less sly than in the previous book: Lady Montdore sniffs that hardly anyone had heard of India until her cipher of a husband served as secretary there; Uncle Matthew comes upon Cedric in a shop and is so overcome with rage at his coat with contrasting colored piping that he begins shaking him, like a dog with a rat. Mitford somehow makes all her characters, no matter how outlandish, also sympathetic, this is true even of the nasty Boy Dougdale, who is some sort of sexual predator and pedophile and ends up in a miserable, loveless marriage. Everyone dismisses Boy’s groping of the underage Radlett sisters with a shudder and a shrug, as merely a breach in manners rather than a loathsome crime. Well, it was a different age.

[Laura Gotti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho letto il primo, sto leggendo il secondo, non mi ero accorta di aver acquistato la raccolta completa. Non riuscivo a leggere, ho pensato di leggere in inglese così univo l'utile al dilettevole. Ci ho trovato quello che cercavo, un po' Downton Abbey un po' Jane Austen moderna. Un po' di maniero inglese in campagna e Londra dissoluta. Davvero non mi aspettavo altro.

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This nice little trilogy of Nancy Mitford's most popular fiction is as light and frothy as they come, peppered with giggle-out-loud moments and some of the most beautiful turns of phrase. The first two books, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate , are part of a series and focus on different characters, many of whom appear in both novels and have the same narrator, Fanny. They both, as many English novels seem to be, are focused on the all-important task of finding love in the right social class and holding a marriage together. In Mitford's world - these are often not part of the same equation.

The stories are firmly set in the universe of the 'U' (as opposed to non-U) - descriptors that Mitford is credited to have evolved to distinguish between upper-class and non-upper class. In addition, it captures as if under glass the vanished world of the English country aristocracy in interwar period. In both these senses, it is a travelogue into an unknown (and often hilariously bizarre) realm of etiquette, fashion and chauvinism. Even where heartbreak and betrayal lurk - there is an overriding sensation of putting a brave face forward till candyfloss frivolity takes over again. Many of her characters are eccentric and endearing all at the same time - and you get the sense that while she makes us laugh at their expense and puts them in all sorts of ridiculous situations, she is quite fond of them. Thus while we may laugh - we sympathise as well. Fans of P G Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh will not be disappointed.

While I enjoyed the first two books in this volume - the third The Blessing which focuses on a very U French family and and its English bride - was just not as captivating and felt like more of the same. Or perhaps I just need something a little more real after that - off read a gruesome thriller of some sort now!

[BrokenTune]

The Pursuit of Love - 3.5*
Love in a Cold Climate - 2*
The Blessing - TBR

[Suhana Ruprai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a witty and funny book, with important themes about life and love! This book took me quite a while to read as I was not used to the style of writing and some of the language. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

[Vivienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there were 3 novels in this omnibus edition, I only read 'In Pursuit of Love' and 'Love in a Cold Climate', leaving aside 'The Blessing'.

I adored Mitford's wit and sparkling prose and its many memorable characters. I also appreciated her down-to-earth and quite open attitude to sexuality, sexual mores and orientation.

It has meant the novels have aged well; seeming quite modern in their sensibilities with 'Cold Climate' especially notable for its rare positive portrayal of homosexuality in mainstream fiction of the period.

My only real issue was that the omnibus edition I had used a very tiny font, which made it hard to read even with glasses.

[Archie Hamerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the last great prose stylists. So wonderful that the 20th century expiration of the Great 19th Century Countryhouse Novel as a form was documented with poisonous wit, a little rotation of infectiously magnetic characters (Cedric! Linda! JASSY!), and a healthy dose of the maudlin.

[Lora Grigorova · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love in a Cold Climate and Other Novels: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...

A long time has passed since I had the unfortunate displeasure of running into a book that I simply cannot finish. The last one, which gave me such trouble, was Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. Frankly, I just don’t get why Bulgarians picked it up as one of their 12 most favorite books. I may be shallow, but this magical made-up world of his was too much to bear. So after 200 pages (which seemed like ages) One Hundred Years of Solitude joined the sad (thank God really small) part of my library, dedicated to novels I simply hated.

I waited for my exams to be over to dive blissfully into Ayn Rand’s third novel We the Living. A friend of mine, however, gave me Nancy Mitford’s short novels and I decided to check them out before Rand. Wrong, completely wrong.

Nancy Mitford was born in the UK in 1904 in the family of a wealthy baron. She didn’t receive any proper education, not counting being taught to ride and speak French. Having read her novel I am hardly surprised. She indeed doesn’t know what she is talking about.

In The Pursuit of Love Mitford attempts to portray the life in the English high class between the two World Wars. Trust me, it took me 100 pages to understand the time period as she didn’t mention it at all. Mitford doesn’t consider the two most disastrous events of the 20th century THAT important to the story as her characters just floated in no time and space trying to figure out what to do with their life. The author depicts a wealthy family, where the children are not educated, as education is considered superfluous (going back to her background we understand why). Big surprise: they only ride and from time to time speak French. Indeed, Mitford overwhelms us with riding, hunting, and French as obviously those are the only things she really knows anything about. The main character is a spoiled rich uneducated girl in the pursuit of love. During this disastrous pursuit she changes husband after husband, becomes the mistress of a wealthy French man and at the end dies. Just like that. I read 150 pages without anything important, interesting, or provoking really going on. Mitford’s obsession with wealthy high class lords and barons simply results in naive, simple, and uneducated characters, from whom a passionate reader cannot learn anything. And frankly, I don’t see the point of JUST reading to pass by time, especially novels that are just words, black on white, with no meaning, no theme, and no moral whatsoever.

Read more: http://readwithstyle.wordpress.com/20...

[Kiwiflora · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few years ago in the book club we read a fabulous biography of the famous Mitford sisters. Aristocratically born early in the 20th century, the five sisters came to adult hood between the wars where they literally took the world by storm. Nancy, the oldest, became a writer of biting satire towards her class, Unity and Diana were fascists - Unity in cahoots with Hitler and Goebbels, and Diana marrying the very well known fascist Sir Oswald Mosley who ended up going to prison for his troubles; Jessica became a journalist and went off to report on the Spanish Civil War not on the side of the fascists, and extraordinarily the youngest, Deborah became the Duchess of Devonshire! And what is more they were all incredibly beautiful, rich, opinionated and famous.

So any writings that come out of this mix are bound to be interesting if nothing else. Along with The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate takes a satirical view of upper class society at a certain point between the wars - before the stock market crash of 1929 and after. The story is narrated by Fanny Logan, an 18 year old girl who lives with relatives due to her parents either being incapable or unable to care for her. Money however is no object! In this particularly wealthy area of England the Lord and Lady Montdore and their daughter Polly, also 18 live. Recently returned from being Viceroy in India, they are totally full of themselves and their position so high up the food chain. Except for Polly who really could not care less, and certainly does not want to be married off to the first available suitor as her mother wishes. Until Polly takes control of her own life of course, seriously threatening her mother's esteemed position in society, and forcing Lord Montdore to disown his only child. This results in the arrival of the male heir, Cedric from the colonies of Nova Soctia and the upheaval he so delightfully foists on this small corner of English landed gentry.

As one expects the plot dances along, with sparkling and witty dialogue and gorgeous characters. The stereotypes abound - Lady Montdore is a monster, Polly is the beautiful, angelic dumb blonde, there are mad and lecherous uncles and dotty aunts, absent minded professors, and of course the completely foppish and outrageous Cedric.

A lot of fun and easy to read. But I don't feel I need to read another of her books.

[Moore Flannery · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was gloriously distracting to have the indulgencies of the 1940’s aristocracy to soak up some of the anxieties of life in lockdown London. Mitford has captured something singular, and crystallite about the upper classes in a moment before their way of life collapsed forever- so well that you see hallmarks here of things and people, events and habits that we can still recognise, perhaps in Fortnums, or the House of Lords and certain sporting fixtures today.

It’s much less about plot - it has to be - because she’s showing you something about the absolute inevitability of their lives, how they speak, their dinners, romances, families- how they are governed by status and diamonds, cars, servants, successes overseas and the last ball/ dinner thrown. Theres no time for plot really. There’s lots of wealthy people- and not a shred of self awareness or thought for others among them - and although she is inviting you to laugh at them preening, self centred, clumsy - Mitford herself doesn’t expect any more from them. There’s no anarchy in her, more subversion.

I had remembered of course how funny, and sort of open Mitford she is in revealing them, but forgotten how hard edged it can be too - so that what begins as a kind of delight in wealthy nonsense, has moments of great unkindness and wilful rudeness. She forgives all however, It’s more observational, as if cataloguing the lives of Hons. That forgiveness makes it hard for the modern reader, with Boris Johnson at the helm, to make the same allowances. In these days, we are more critical of these soft posh boys, of preparing women only for marriage, of bully banter, and of foppish stepping back from truth and responsibility. Some sense of all this having a grain of truth - it’s not just observational comedy, but something chilling and enduring about class, how they govern us without empathy- makes me withhold that final star.

[Zoe Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pursuit of Love

Light, frothy and charmingly-written. Mitford offers some great insights into pre-WW2 English aristocracy, and the world and culture she depicts is beautifully vivid. Unfortunately, the story itself is quite uninteresting: privileged young woman drifts through life falling in love with wildly unsuitable people, before meeting an unfortunate end. Nonetheless, this was my favourite of the collection.

Love in a Cold Climate

More of the same, with the same narrator and many of the same supporting characters, but with a shift in focus to more distant relations. Again the same frothy tone, and it's obvious that the author has a lot of affection for this world and these people, even as she's poking fun at it. A bit more of a plod than the first - the main subject, Polly, simply isn't as interesting a character as Linda in the first novel - but it picks up when she disappears and Cedric replaces her.

The Blessing

Yet more of the same, albeit with a shift to third person and a loss of our narrator/authorial self-insert, Fanny. The move to France and the introduction of the gloomy character of Nanny finally broke me, however, and I just skimmed this final third. Not sure if it's the author's fault, the publisher's (did this third story really belong with the other two, which are obviously a pair?), or if I'd just reached my limit of wanting to read about exceedingly privileged characters who don't do much, but whatever the case, this was by far the weakest imo.

Overall, the author offers an interesting snapshot of a particular time and culture in English history, and the style is entertaining enough. It was also fascinating to see homosexuality talked about so openly, and seemingly with not just tolerance but acceptance (quite different from the treatment the lower classes received in the same era). How the other half live, indeed.

[Elsje · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ik pikte deze Penguin pocket ooit op bij een boekenmarkt, omdat mijn zus oude Penguins spaart. Op mijn uitgave staat ook nog een Cupidootje dat zich in de verkleumde handjes blaast. Na alle ellende in de vorige boeken had ik wel behoefte aan iets lichts en ik meende dat bij Mitford te kunnen vinden. Helaas konden de personages me niet boeien en zat er weinig ontwikkeling in het boekje. Mijn kwalificatie: saai.

Het verhaal
Stel je de adellijke kringen voor in het Groot-Brittannië van de jaren '30 van de vorige eeuw. De jonge Fanny, die door haar tante en oom worden opgevoed na de scheiding van haar ouders, moet als debutante haar opwachting maken in de Society. Daarna wordt ze door de steenrijke en zeer invloedrijke Montdores uitgenodigd om hun enige dochter Polly, die zij op latere leeftijd kregen, gezelschap te houden. De meisjes zijn samen opgegroeid, maar hebben elkaar uit het oog verloren toen Polly met haar ouders een aantal jaar naar India ging. De Montdores zijn recent teruggekeerd met als doel om Polly gesetteld te krijgen.

Terwijl Fanny met veel zin vooruitblikt naar dat wat het leven voor haar in petto heeft: een huwelijk, kinderen, een eigen (bescheiden) plekje in Society, lijkt het wel alsof Polly probeert dit vooruitzicht te verdringen. De band tussen Polly en haar moeder bekoelt daardoor enorm. Tot zover is het een behoorlijk saai boekje. Geef mij Evelyn Waugh dan maar, die ook over de adel in deze periode schreef in zijn Brideshead Revisited.

Tot blijkt waarom Polly geen aanstalten maakt om met de eerste de beste geschikte jongeman in het huwelijk te treden. Dan ontploft de situatie. Vanaf dat moment had het leuk kunnen worden, maar helaas raffelt Mitford het verhaal daarna zodanig af dat je met een soort van 'nou moe'-gevoel achterblijft.

[Alistair · Rating 3 out of 5]

this falls somewhere between Evelyn Waugh and P G Wodehouse being neither as serious and cutting as Waugh nor as funny as Wodehouse . the people are the same though , posh and a bit ridiculous . coming out in these days was for debutantes not for cissies or pansies as they would have called them and if one is talking " balls " it is dancing one is referring to , not nonsense .
there is no story to speak off just loads of peculiar people who never work and do anything except socialaise with their own kend . it all so tewibbly luverly and gay .
if one lives in oxford it is amusing to find that the Mitre in the High was a fashionable meeting place , hard to imagine today , also living in Banbury Road was orfully infra dig .
no wonder Nancy Mitford moved to France where it was warmer .
i felt embarrassed buying the book since my version had a chick lit cover featuring a lot of pink and scrolley writing .

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first one was pretty good: lots of eccentric characters, full of little private jokes and interesting observations.

I hung on through the second one, because it had some of the same characters from the first. But the secondary characters were less likeable and they got to talk and share their horrid views A LOT. Like, there's probably some critique in there? But mostly it's just long diatribes of the rich against the rest of people and how hard their (the rich person's) life is.

The third was the dumbest. Did you know that Englishwomen who marry Frenchmen should just learn to accept that they (Frenchmen) like adultery? And the little kid was pretty irritating.

Mostly, it's a series of narrators who admit that all the people are terrible but still find them charming anyway. I read to finish what I started and find out what happened, not because I was actually rooting for anyone.

[Tarragon Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jolly good. I'm glad of the recommendation. I've read the third book in this volume, Blessing. I think for the first time in my life I had to skip to the ending due to the tedium of the last third of the book. There is a child, a blessing to the estranged parents who thoroughly spoil him, and I found him insufferable. Happily, just as I was cheating - to make sure there really was an end in sight - everything shifted for the better. All this is to say, no need to read it at all except that it is quite charming until Grace catches her husband in the act, and even then it is quite charming when that good for nothing ten year old is not in the scene.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pursuit of Love is one of my absolute favourite novels. A definite 5 stars. It is just so funny.

Love in a Cold Climate is my least favourite of the three in this volume. I found I did not really remember it well, but it does have one of my favourite quotes of all time in it. It is (of course) one of Cedric's: "Nobody knows how much I hate barons, I feel exactly like King John whenever I think of them". When I say least favourite, I would still give it 5 stars!

The Blessing is intriguing and I really enjoy it. It is my second favourite of the stories in this collection and again, one of my absolute favourite books of all time.

[Mary Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love a nice autobiographical novel. Insights into the Mitfords.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's okay, not an amazing story line. But somehow I was still very interested in it.

[Novelle Novels · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 out of 5 stars
The first of these three stories was quite good so I was hopeful that the others would be but unfortunately I liked each of the following two less.

[Annaspanner1000 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story 4 stars
Quality of the writing 5 stars

[Martin Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a companion piece to "In the Pursuit of Love". The narrator a was the same, Fanny, but she struggles with a new cast of silly and entitled {literally and metaphorically} characters. It was a fun and satirical look at the British upper classes. As Ms Mitford was part of this world, she seems to a reliable witness.

[Lydia Mroczynska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just my cup of tea!

Nancy Mitford's gift for bringing such a vast range of characters to life is exceptional. It was like I was sitting in the room during every conversation, especially the ones in the Hon's cupboard.

I can't recommend highly enough ♡

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novels of connections.

[Alex Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first in the series is such an excellent book. Though maybe the downbeat ending stops it from being a favourite.

[Jake Stillwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I kept reading, I liked each novel less and less, but admired Nancy Mitford as a writer more and more. Wry, witty, glamorous, gossipy, and insightful.

[Laura McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't want to read this one straight after The Pursuit of Love because I didn't want to get the two confused. But turns out that I did read it straight after, and in hindsight I should haven't have worried. While the plots of the two novels are intertwined, this one is very different from Pursuit.

The story mainly deals with Polly, a friend of the narrator Fanny (who also narrates of Pursuit). The characters are grown-up in this one, which is a shame because the charm from the first story came from the childhood antics of the Radlett children. There are a few characters that are interesting, if not lovable. Cedric was my favorite--the flamboyant Canadian who moves to Paris to find his true identity and ends up Lady Montdore's plaything. In my mind's reenactment he was played by Tom Hollander, in the same style as his character from Bedrooms and Hallways--if you've seen that.

I would give this one 3 1/2 stars if I could. The Pursuit of Love deserves a full 4 stars. As you can tell, I didn't like this one as much due to the fact that I was bored with Polly and wished Mitford devoted more pages to the interesting characters. But the book ended quite abruptly and left me wishing for more.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nancy Mitford published this book in 1949. Sixty plus years later I read it. Mitford has been in the back of my mind for a long time, not sixty years, but ever since reading an appreciation of her biographies of Louis XIV and Frederick the Great. She was a member of a very eccentric English family, Two of her younger sisters went through love affairs with Hitler and Fascism in the 1930s. One of them, Unity Mitford was a vocal admirer of Hitler and shot herself when the war started. Another, Diana, married Oswald Mosley, heard of the British Union of Fascists (Mosley was hilarious lampooned by P.G. Wodehouse in several of the Jeeves novels as "Sir Roderick Spode," leader of the "Black Shorts." ). Love in a Cold Climate is a wry and funny look at the foibles of a rich and aristocratic family, the Montdores. Mitford's description of the odd characters surrounding Lord and Lady Montdore are reminiscent of both P.G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh, although MItford's style is not as loopy as Wodehouse or as acerbic as Waugh. This book is apparently a sequel to The Pursuit of Love using the same narrator but focused on another your woman.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three novels in one volume, of which I have finished The Pursuit of Love. This first in the collection is the story of Linda through the eyes of her cousin. An inter-war tale and very much of its time; despite that, and despite not really getting all that involved in the novel, it was a good read and interesting in that it gives a perspective on English life amongst the higher classes that is not often as well portrayed as it is in The Pursuit of Love. Love in a Cold Climate I have just started and the same characters are involved once more, this time in a different part of their lives. The Blessing makes up the third novel in the volume and will be got to in due course.

Slight amendment - I really couldn't bear with the continued witterings of the characters depicted in Love in a Cold Climate. Because of this I have stopped reading a little over half way in. The Pursuit of Love is still worthwhile, but I wouldn't advise reading all of these novels unless social butterflies are of particular interest to you. They don't interest me much except sociologically speaking.

[Nickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 3 book collection

The Pursuit Of Love - 5/5
Waugh-level satire of the English upper classes. Funny, well-observed, clever, large part autobiographical I think. Every inch a classic and a terrible shame that it's not recognised as such.

Love In A Cold Climate - 3/5
If I'd read this before The Pursuit of Love, it might have got the 5 star treatment. Just feels like more of the same - although good stuff at that. Perhaps better read at a distance from t'other as nice in a way to meet the same characters from a different angle. The thing that's great about Nancy Mitford is the fact that she writes about WOMAN stuff. Pregnancies and births are usually little more than a mention in most books. How many pregnant women can you think of in literature? And she does it in a way that's arch and witty too. I do love a clever lady.

The Blessing - 4/5
High Society in post-war Britain and France - Waughsian and Wodehousian (lite). Amour, l'art, les liaisons dangereuses et les garcons diaboliques!