the pursuit of love nancy mitford review

Uncle Matthew in the book is directly based on Nancy's father, Lord Redesdale, though as far as we know he never used an entrenching tool to 'whack to death eight Germans one by one as they crawled out of a dug-out.' He did however, remarkably – to cite one of the crazier exploits in The Pursuit of Love – hunt his children with a bloodhound, though the reality was more playful and less terrifying than the book has it. Its story of the love lives of members of the eccentric Radlett family is funny, satirical and full of deliciously strange people, like the hypochondriac suitor Davey who 'twisted his tonsil, singing' and was 'on a new diet: one meal white, one meal red.' The Pursuit of Love, which was published in 1945, sold 200,000 copies in its first year and has rarely been out of print since, shows that there is a ready audience for its delightful blend of wit and absurdity. 'How ghastly all sound, though of course in real life haha they are ideal.' And so say all of us! The success of the new BBC adaptation of Nancy Mitford's novel The Pursuit of Love (which this week is now being made available to watch internationally on Amazon Prime), and the renewed interest it has sparked in the bonkers, scandalous family that created and inspired it, makes us ask: what is it about the Mitford sisters that keeps us reading – and watching? 'I must admit, 'The Mitfords' would madden me if I didn't chance to be one,' wrote Diana Mitford to her sister Deborah in 1985.

The pursuit of love nancy mitford review