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Book of the Month: The Pursuit of Love
from January 2022
by VIP Magazine
Nancy Mitford was witty, intelligent, often acerbic and an acute observer of upper-class English idiosyncrasies. With the publication of her novels The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate and The Blessing, she became a huge bestseller and a household name. An inveterate writer of letters, she wrote almost daily to, among others, Evelyn Waugh, Harold Action, John Betjeman, Lord Berners, Lady Seafield, and, of course, her sisters.
BRI JACKSON REVIEWS THE PURSUIT OF LOVE
BY NANCY MITFORD
Set in England around World War II, The Pursuit of Love follows the lives of cousins and best friends, Fanny and Linda, as narrated by the former with the latter the main character of fascination. The novel is a satire that follows the girls from their early teenage years through their 20s, mostly taking place at Linda’s family home, Alconleigh. Linda’s father, Uncle Matthew, whose shovel that “whacked down” Germans during the First World War hangs with prominence over the family’s drawing room mantelpiece, enjoys hunting the children with his four bloodhounds and tells you all you really need to know about the girls’ eccentric upbringing. Fanny, the down to earth and quite ordinary – as is pointed out to her on numerous occasions – narrator is enamored along with everyone else with her dear cousin Linda. Linda is interested in only one thing and that is falling in love, which she manages to do three times over. The story is clever and tongue and cheek with sincere moments and quite a bit of tragedy but is in the end a comedy. It is a great book to curl up with this cold winter and enjoy a few chuckles over the antics of the Radlett children and the adults responsible for them. Amazon Prime adapted the novel into a three part series by the same title that is really quite entertaining and a wonderful interpretation of the book and its interesting characters. And should you find yourself as fascinated with the characters as I was, there are three more books that delve into the lives of Fanny, Linda, and their ilk.
