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melaniemaksin 's review for:
The Pursuit of Love
by Nancy Mitford
I can’t decide if the Mitford family works better as fiction or nonfiction. If they hadn’t actually existed, we would probably consider their fictional equivalents too outlandish and improbable, a too on-the-nose attempt to lampoon the aristocracy while shoehorning in some early-twentieth-century politics. But in The Pursuit of Love, just one of eldest sister Nancy’s novelisations of her fabulously bizarre family, little details like Uncle Matthew’s tendency to “hunt” the children are hardly twee set-dressing; that was taken directly from life with the Mitfords.
At this point, I’ve read some of Nancy’s other novels, plus Jessica’s memoir of their upbringing (Hons and Rebels), plus Mary S. Lovell’s biography of the whole crew (The Sisters), plus Jo Walton’s fictional take on some Mitford-esque ladies and their hapless political intrigue (Ha’penny). The Pursuit of Love felt a little like The Mitfords’ Greatest Hits: The Early Years. The family in happier times, before Diana and Unity took up with the Fascists and the Nazis. But despite the familiarity of the context and many of the anecdotes, Nancy’s prose is just so breezy (yet shot through with prickly observations and sharp wit) that it’s kind of impossible to complain.
At this point, I’ve read some of Nancy’s other novels, plus Jessica’s memoir of their upbringing (Hons and Rebels), plus Mary S. Lovell’s biography of the whole crew (The Sisters), plus Jo Walton’s fictional take on some Mitford-esque ladies and their hapless political intrigue (Ha’penny). The Pursuit of Love felt a little like The Mitfords’ Greatest Hits: The Early Years. The family in happier times, before Diana and Unity took up with the Fascists and the Nazis. But despite the familiarity of the context and many of the anecdotes, Nancy’s prose is just so breezy (yet shot through with prickly observations and sharp wit) that it’s kind of impossible to complain.