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Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford
This biography draws on Nancy Mitford's highly autobiographical early novels, the biographies and novels of her more mature French period, her journalism, and the vast body of letters to her sisters, lovers, and friends such as Evelyn Waugh and Cyril Connolly. Laura Thompson has put together a portrait of a courageous and contradictory woman—a woman who expressed anti-feminist views while living a life of financial and emotional independence; a woman who appeared quintessentially English but who was only wholly able to be herself once she moved to France; a woman who believed implacably that the best response to life's pain was laughter.
Approaching her subject with wit, perspicacity, and huge affection, Laura Thompson, like Mitford, makes her serious points lightly. Eschewing cliches about the eccentricities of the Mitford clan, Thompson analyzes the contradictions and complexities at the heart of Nancy Mitford's life and work.
Approaching her subject with wit, perspicacity, and huge affection, Laura Thompson, like Mitford, makes her serious points lightly. Eschewing cliches about the eccentricities of the Mitford clan, Thompson analyzes the contradictions and complexities at the heart of Nancy Mitford's life and work.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
432 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2003
48 people are currently reading
454 people want to read
About the author
Laura Thompson
79 books178 followersPlease note: Laura Thompson's account is mistakenly merged with another author's account by the same name. Goodreads Librarians are working to solve the issue.
Laura Thompson writes about life - and is unapologetic in what she captures. She is a sexual assault survivor, has navigated near death traumas with her daughters' medical issues, and possesses the ability to capture what is true, honest, and worthy.
True to form, her writing will resonate powerfully with other survivors and with anyone who knows a survivor - because she embodies the word.
Thompson has worked in nonprofit administration for seven years. She and her husband, Edward, have three children: identical twin daughters, Jane and Claire, and son, Stephen. They reside in the Lowcountry of Charleston, SC.
Laura Thompson writes about life - and is unapologetic in what she captures. She is a sexual assault survivor, has navigated near death traumas with her daughters' medical issues, and possesses the ability to capture what is true, honest, and worthy.
True to form, her writing will resonate powerfully with other survivors and with anyone who knows a survivor - because she embodies the word.
Thompson has worked in nonprofit administration for seven years. She and her husband, Edward, have three children: identical twin daughters, Jane and Claire, and son, Stephen. They reside in the Lowcountry of Charleston, SC.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 7, 2016
Wanted to like this book. Read to get background before reading book of letters between sisters.
Subject (Nancy Mitford) is fascinating, but book is not.
Insights seem to be based on readings of her novels. This is legitimate approach but rings hollow somehow.
Also, although I would find moralizing uninteresting, at least in the 80-100 pages I read, the subject of Unity's and Diana's fascism is handled oddly. Diana agreed to be interviewed for book so author clearly tried to tread lightly, but discussion is decidedly odd. Maybe it gets better later.
Anyway, somehow a book about an interesting, dynamic person became horribly boring in this author's hands.
May try again in future but for now am abandoning the effort.
Subject (Nancy Mitford) is fascinating, but book is not.
Insights seem to be based on readings of her novels. This is legitimate approach but rings hollow somehow.
Also, although I would find moralizing uninteresting, at least in the 80-100 pages I read, the subject of Unity's and Diana's fascism is handled oddly. Diana agreed to be interviewed for book so author clearly tried to tread lightly, but discussion is decidedly odd. Maybe it gets better later.
Anyway, somehow a book about an interesting, dynamic person became horribly boring in this author's hands.
May try again in future but for now am abandoning the effort.
March 1, 2020
I have come to the conclusion that the only books that I should read relating to the Mitfords are Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate.
The fact is that none of the Mitfords, regardless of their politics, were very nice people. In fact most of them were downright nasty. If you want a quick sample of this, read some of the letters compiled by Charlotte Mosley (a descendant of Diana Mitford and her horrible fascist husband Sir Oswald Mosley) inThe Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters. It's more than you'll need to know about who they were as people.
But the 1 star for this book is not because of that, because I have read lots of other Mitfordiana over the years. It is simply because this is an appallingly bad book that brings no new facts to the table, but instead merely tries to psychoanalyze Nancy (and other family members), and is more like a badly written poorly organized term paper/thesis than anything else. Clearly the author wants us to like Nancy,but frankly, Nancy was pretty unlikable, and if anything, this really brings that out!
Read Nancy's above mentioned master works. Watch the original TV mini-series, done in the late 1970s, which was much better cast (including Judi Dench as Aunt Sadie!) and much better written than the 2000 era version. (First episode is here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYK6X...)
But don't waste your time on this book. And if you really want a full bio of the sisters, try the much better one by Mary Lovell: The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family
The fact is that none of the Mitfords, regardless of their politics, were very nice people. In fact most of them were downright nasty. If you want a quick sample of this, read some of the letters compiled by Charlotte Mosley (a descendant of Diana Mitford and her horrible fascist husband Sir Oswald Mosley) inThe Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters. It's more than you'll need to know about who they were as people.
But the 1 star for this book is not because of that, because I have read lots of other Mitfordiana over the years. It is simply because this is an appallingly bad book that brings no new facts to the table, but instead merely tries to psychoanalyze Nancy (and other family members), and is more like a badly written poorly organized term paper/thesis than anything else. Clearly the author wants us to like Nancy,but frankly, Nancy was pretty unlikable, and if anything, this really brings that out!
Read Nancy's above mentioned master works. Watch the original TV mini-series, done in the late 1970s, which was much better cast (including Judi Dench as Aunt Sadie!) and much better written than the 2000 era version. (First episode is here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYK6X...)
But don't waste your time on this book. And if you really want a full bio of the sisters, try the much better one by Mary Lovell: The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family
March 17, 2016
This book was a bit of a chore. I really, really wanted to like Nancy Mitford, and the author obviously does, but I was not convinced. Instead, I came away with a picture of a shallow woman who spent much of her life embroiled in a humiliating affair with a man who obviously did not love her. I found this hard to sympathize with. The saving grace of the book, and the only reason I finished it, is that it is set in the always interesting 1920's-1950's.
February 17, 2020
Yawn. Tedious fawning. Nothing to see here, keep moving.
Also, the way the sisters devotion to, or tolerance of, fascism is treated by the author is offensive. Kind of like listening to folks talk about how not everyone who votes for the Cheeto in Chief is a racist.
Support a fascist, you are a fascist. Tolerate a fascist, again.
Also, the way the sisters devotion to, or tolerance of, fascism is treated by the author is offensive. Kind of like listening to folks talk about how not everyone who votes for the Cheeto in Chief is a racist.
Support a fascist, you are a fascist. Tolerate a fascist, again.
February 26, 2012
I could not get through this biography. She relied too heavily on comparing Nancy Mitford to her book characters. I also got the impression she looked on Mitford as a guilty pleasure and needed to justify liking her at all.
August 5, 2017
I usually quite like Laura Thompson’s work but I’m afraid this perspective on Nancy Mitford really left me a bit cold. There was an interesting life to be conveyed here, but one enormous Achille’s heel put me off it. Thompson seemed utterly obsessed with linking back to Nancy’s characters in The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. Of course it is imperative that the reader knows that her two most important books are Roman a Clefs ‘through a looking glass’, and her characters are often thinly veiled family members and friends. But Nancy herself was not the most frank or honest person (in the way that Diana, her sister, was), and so the constant comparing ends up muddying the picture of Nancy. It ended up feeling, perhaps wrongly, that Thompson was doing this just to make herself seem a bit clever. Consequently the biographer’s voice came across more loudly than the subject’s, which is never a good thing, for me.
I’ve read much more enlightening books about or including Nancy. Perhaps chief amongst these is Selina Hasting’s biography. Also excellent are Nancy’s published letters, edited by Charlotte Mosley (as a part of “Letters Between Six Sisters”, and “Mary S Lovell’s almost peerless book on the Mitford Sisters in the round “Take Six Sisters.”
I’ve read much more enlightening books about or including Nancy. Perhaps chief amongst these is Selina Hasting’s biography. Also excellent are Nancy’s published letters, edited by Charlotte Mosley (as a part of “Letters Between Six Sisters”, and “Mary S Lovell’s almost peerless book on the Mitford Sisters in the round “Take Six Sisters.”
December 4, 2013
Written in a charming and chatty style not unlike that of Nancy Mitford herself, Life in a Cold Climate analyzes Mitford's life, works, and relationships in an engaging and perceptive way. The book is clearly based on excellent research (including extensive interviews with the two sisters of Nancy still alive when the book was written, Lady Diana Mosley and Deborah Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire) and a deep knowledge of Nancy's writings. It's been long enough since I read Selina Hastings's biography of Nancy Mitford that I can't compare the two directly, but I certainly recommend Thompson's book highly to anyone who wants insight into the complex and controversial Nancy Mitford.
June 20, 2025
Ultimately disappointing. The author does not make good use of the sources available to her and spends an enormous time writing what comes over as book reviews. The author is too visible - shares her (irrelevant) opinion on modern times, fox hunting etc etc - which detracts from the subject.
I liked parts of it - which is why I give it a generous three stars. On the whole I would not recommend it. Oh well. :(
I liked parts of it - which is why I give it a generous three stars. On the whole I would not recommend it. Oh well. :(
September 12, 2020
This is not for a novice Mitford family fan. I really struggled getting thru this book. It had moments of greatness, but was overall brought down by the constant analysing. Books/writing to Nancy’s actual life. Family compared to the the books. Lovers compared. Yadda yadda.
July 30, 2015
OK - too much about the the characters in her book, not enough about the woman herself for me.
November 13, 2024
I sought out this biography after reading Laura Thompson's Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters. Thompson's work on the famous Mitfords is engaging, entertaining and informative.
Though Nancy was not initially the most famous Mitford (Unity, Diana Mitford Mosley and Jessica Mitford having already attained notoriety with their subversive political antics and men), it was she who later secured the Mitford family myth with her bestselling novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, both (very) loosely based on her family and each still global classics.
As the eldest child of 2nd Baron Redesdale (16 years older than youngest sister Deborah Mitford), she was a prominent socialite long before becoming a famous writer.
Despite her aristocratic, if rather penniless, beginnings, Nancy was the only Mitford sister besides Jessica Mitford, to attain vocational financial independence, the other surviving sisters marrying lucratively regardless of their various individual talents.
Nancy's later books, after the more frivolous fiction that brought her fame, were historical biographies. These were penned during her Paris years - a staunch Francophile, she made that country her home, first in Paris and later in Versailles.
She was also a notorious tease, both to loved ones and the wider world, causing national furore with her tongue-in-cheek commentary on 'U and Non-U' phraseology in Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry Into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy, which claimed certain terminology defined a person's class. England missed the joke and bit the bait, but Nancy was above it, across the channel in her adopted homeland.
The most socialist of the sisters, the funniest and most stylish, Nancy had a well-documented sting in her tail and was perhaps secretly the saddest to reach old age (Unity, who died young, being the most straight forwardly tragic), never settling with a truly devoted husband or partner and long hurt by unrequited adoration for the love of her life, politician Gaston Palewski, the close associate of President Charles de Gaulle.
She suffered a lonely painful death from cancer in 1973, just a year after the French government made her a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur and the British government appointed her a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Whilst much of Laura Thompson's material here is recycled from Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters and much of it generalised Nancy Mitford 'stock' fare from the wide canon of work on her, Thompson's clear fondness for her subject gives it tremendous readability.
I read this book in a just few nights and will no doubt reread it far into the future, Nancy Mitford being one of my all-time favourite personalities.
Though Nancy was not initially the most famous Mitford (Unity, Diana Mitford Mosley and Jessica Mitford having already attained notoriety with their subversive political antics and men), it was she who later secured the Mitford family myth with her bestselling novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, both (very) loosely based on her family and each still global classics.
As the eldest child of 2nd Baron Redesdale (16 years older than youngest sister Deborah Mitford), she was a prominent socialite long before becoming a famous writer.
Despite her aristocratic, if rather penniless, beginnings, Nancy was the only Mitford sister besides Jessica Mitford, to attain vocational financial independence, the other surviving sisters marrying lucratively regardless of their various individual talents.
Nancy's later books, after the more frivolous fiction that brought her fame, were historical biographies. These were penned during her Paris years - a staunch Francophile, she made that country her home, first in Paris and later in Versailles.
She was also a notorious tease, both to loved ones and the wider world, causing national furore with her tongue-in-cheek commentary on 'U and Non-U' phraseology in Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry Into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy, which claimed certain terminology defined a person's class. England missed the joke and bit the bait, but Nancy was above it, across the channel in her adopted homeland.
The most socialist of the sisters, the funniest and most stylish, Nancy had a well-documented sting in her tail and was perhaps secretly the saddest to reach old age (Unity, who died young, being the most straight forwardly tragic), never settling with a truly devoted husband or partner and long hurt by unrequited adoration for the love of her life, politician Gaston Palewski, the close associate of President Charles de Gaulle.
She suffered a lonely painful death from cancer in 1973, just a year after the French government made her a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur and the British government appointed her a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Whilst much of Laura Thompson's material here is recycled from Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters and much of it generalised Nancy Mitford 'stock' fare from the wide canon of work on her, Thompson's clear fondness for her subject gives it tremendous readability.
I read this book in a just few nights and will no doubt reread it far into the future, Nancy Mitford being one of my all-time favourite personalities.
February 9, 2020
It was interesting but the biographer was so far up Nancy's arse sometimes they couldn't see straight, just seemed really sycophantic at times. Plus the author would constantly slide to stuff that happened in the future of that point, which is confusing if you don't know about the Mitford lives beforehand.
December 28, 2021
Although there are some fun Nancy Mitford quotes and childhood stories, the author of this book relied heavily upon Diana Mitford. You know, the Mitford sister who was the Nazi, but the "slightly less serious Nazi" than Unity (who attempted suicide several times after Germany and the UK were at war). So not only is there some rather uncomfortable criticism of anti-fascist Nancy being terribly mean to her sisters during the war for being, well, you know, Nazis (traitors, in fact, at least in spirit), but also very little analysis of how and why Britain's aristocracy gave rise to such xenophobia. There's also a peculiar assumption that Nancy was the Linda of her famous Pursuit of Love, which again devalues a woman's artistic product assuming that art and life are one.
The biography is entertaining in parts, but Mitford deserves better.
The biography is entertaining in parts, but Mitford deserves better.
Read
December 4, 2013In an enjoyable biography of an interesting woman, Laura Thompson effectively analyses Nancy Mitford's work in the context of her life and loves. Written with honesty and affection, this is a very readable account of a privileged life which doesn't shy away from examining its subject's not so nice moments with an exasperated 'Oh, Nancy...' Somehow managing to be lit crit and deliciously gossipy at the same time, Thompson has written an excellent biography, the writing of which shares its subject's light touch with the pen.
July 22, 2009
This biography of Nancy Mitford has a lot of unapologetic speculation--it's interesting, but very opinionated. Many sentences start with some variation of, "Perhaps this is why . . .", and then the author is off, confidently hypothesizing. Reading it has the feel of listening to a smart, lively friend who, though sometimes long winded, is often fascinating, but whose viewpoint you don't entirely trust.
July 24, 2007
It may not be the best biography (there is a little too much of Laura herself peeking through the lines), but it gives an essential look into Mitford. And the actual writing is very good.
March 21, 2020
DNF. An overly fawning picture of the Mitfords, especially Diana. I'm sure the author was trying to placate her as a source, but you can't really downplay full-blown fascism. No thanks.
Read
August 6, 2021Just started it and Ms. Thompson jumps right in the deep end. If you have not read Mitford history, Mitford fiction or are not entrenched in Mitfordian lore, this is a hard one to read. There is NO frame of reference for the Mitfordiana - save book lists, their social set, their family culture. Good luck. I have read all that stuff and I am slogging through and could use a diagram or map to sort out the stately mansions, the relatives, the politics and the personalities of every single one. On one tier is family gossip and the hierarchy of the six sisters. It jumps back and forth and this is confusing alone. It also presumes more than passing knowledge of Britain between the wars and after WW2. Lots of mid-Century name-dropping. And is an FYI And I am hardly 1/4 way in. I would say if you don't know the Mitford Saga - this is not the one to to read for a start. If you are besotted with The Mitfords in general or just enjoy mid century gossip, you may enjoy it. The endnotes are a better source of information and the bibliography is enlightening. The Mitfords knew EVERYONE one needed to know in that tier of titled, entitled and wanna be titled Brits of the 30',40's, 'early 50's. Without much research one finds the entire family almost a biography that was also a a fictional period piece. Or an epic Fay Weldon oeuvre. I cannot decide right now if I will keep reading or laboriously read and reread the bibliography titles. Or if I even care.
March 19, 2020
At various points I seriously considered not finishing this book. But I really wanted to learn more about Nancy Mitford, and so persevered. And it did get better, especially when Mitford moved to France, but that was well into the middle of the book. Still, there was something about this biography, parts that shone, that made me glad I stuck with it. Yet, I never completely felt I knew or connected with Mitford; it was as if the author got in the way of her subject one too many times.
October 14, 2021
Msrvellous
I have never enjoyed the early Nancy Mitford novels, although I liked The Sun King. I read this book solely because I love the author's writing.
I was not disappointed. It is beautifully written and almost makes me wonder whether I should try again with the novels. Laura Thompson is remarkably clear eyed about Nancy Mitford and yet for all her faults, she manages to make her subject a sympathetic character.
Highly recommended
I have never enjoyed the early Nancy Mitford novels, although I liked The Sun King. I read this book solely because I love the author's writing.
I was not disappointed. It is beautifully written and almost makes me wonder whether I should try again with the novels. Laura Thompson is remarkably clear eyed about Nancy Mitford and yet for all her faults, she manages to make her subject a sympathetic character.
Highly recommended
May 25, 2020
The author seems overly interested in defending her subject against previous biographies and essays. She is only sometimes successful.
Nancy Mitford was a complicated woman and I found the author's examination of her inner life illuminating. I didn't finish the book "liking" Nancy Mitford anymore, but that's not really the point. I do understand her a lityle bit more.
Nancy Mitford was a complicated woman and I found the author's examination of her inner life illuminating. I didn't finish the book "liking" Nancy Mitford anymore, but that's not really the point. I do understand her a lityle bit more.
June 12, 2022
Fundamentally enjoyable - but the author has a rather romantic, floral style of prose (evident in her other works I’ve read) that is rather distracting and ultimately detracting. One wonders the extent to which she is entirely beguiled by her subject to the extent that some of her conclusions are coloured by that. But worth a read for sure if you’re interested in the subject.
September 12, 2020
The author switches back and forth between the reality of the Mitford family based on the various sisters' perceptions and the fictionalized Mitford in Nancy's writing so often that I'm not sure if this was a biography or literary review.
July 28, 2021
i’m quite proud of finishing this one, at times it felt like a chore to read but i’m really glad i stuck with it. at times confusing with how it jumps between years back to front, but apart from that a lovely and always interesting read about the incredible life of nancy mitford.
June 18, 2022
Interesting structure for a bio (each part of Nancy's life is discussed through the lens of one of her books), but a little long-winded, I thought. I didn't actually learn much, but I've read A LOT about Nancy, so.
April 29, 2023
2.5 stars rounded up.
A rambling, fawning biography of British author/socialite Nancy Mitford.The author assumes that readers are already familiar with Mitford's books, although she does give basic information about the plots. She also assumes that readers are as fluent in French as she is, to judge by the many untranslated French phrases and sentences all throughout the book. All I can say is thank God for Google Translate.
An extra half-star because this book did make me want to read some of Mitford's works.
A rambling, fawning biography of British author/socialite Nancy Mitford.The author assumes that readers are already familiar with Mitford's books, although she does give basic information about the plots. She also assumes that readers are as fluent in French as she is, to judge by the many untranslated French phrases and sentences all throughout the book. All I can say is thank God for Google Translate.
An extra half-star because this book did make me want to read some of Mitford's works.
May 24, 2018
Sorry to say I could only endure the book to the halfway point. It was a library book and expired. Rather endless documentary biography that I wanted to enjoy but didn’t happen for me
February 25, 2020
Needs a good editor. Overblown, too much supposition and way too apologetic of bad behavior. Now we know where the Kardashians learned social climbing.
Read
April 21, 2025Dnf
March 18, 2017
The author really liked Nancy and it showed. She did not whitewash the woman but also didn't focus on the negatives. Very enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews