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A review by libbygranger
The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Trying to describe The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, I found myself typing the words ‘love,’ and ‘family’ – and yet these buzzwords conjure images too sweet and restrained for this surprisingly modern classic. Mitford writes candidly about ‘taboo’ issues such as contraception, child grooming, and homosexuality. Of course, she doesn’t use the modern terminology we do today, but I was shocked by the bluntness of these discussions.
The way Mitford represents different interpretations of love, desire and friendship in both novels is far from stuffy and old-fashioned. In The Pursuit of Love, our protagonist Linda is an eccentric flirt who has no qualms about jumping from one marriage to the next. In Love in a Cold Climate, the reserved Polly shocks everyone with her controversial choice of husband (I won't reveal who it is, because spoilers). In the second act, Polly’s mother, in a fit of grief, becomes infatuated with her own nephew, the campy and queer Cedric, who teaches her about beauty, art and fashion. Each storyline is given appropriate time and weight to make these characters and their situations believable, not just cheap thrills.
To contrast these scandalous tales of lust and devotion is our narrator, the quiet and ‘normal’ Fanny, cousin to Linda and friend to Polly. Fanny’s love life is only ever alluded to – a conventional tale that complies with the societal expectations – and it pales in comparison to Linda’s adventures and Polly’s secrets. These novels made an astonishing impression on me, if not for pure shock-factor, then for the effortlessly readable writing and engaging characters. Even with a big ensemble cast, side characters such as Davey and Uncle Matthew felt so alive and real.
But I think my connection to these novels was also influenced by reading this during the pandemic, because some of the musings on war and history felt particularly relevant. By the end of The Pursuit of Love, WWII has officially begun. Linda laments; ‘I’m sure in history the two wars will become as one war and that we shall be squashed out of it altogether, and people will forget that we ever existed.’ To which her uncle, Davey, replies: ‘It may become a sort of literary curiosity. […] People will be interested in it for all the wrong reasons, and collect Lalique dressing-table sets and shagreen boxes and cocktail cabinets lined with looking-glass and find them very amusing.’
This exchange struck me two-fold. To begin with, Mitford predicted the future. World War II is exactly, as Davey puts it, a ‘literary curiosity’. It continues to be the subject of films, novels, and documentaries, eighty years after the fact – it’s almost become its own genre of media. But the second thing that struck me was the question of whether the same would be true for the generation living through COVID-19? Will this time in history become a ‘literary curiosity’ in the same way? Or will we, as Linda fears, be forgotten? Only time will tell …
In summation, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate offered much more than I expected, and gave me much to think about.
The way Mitford represents different interpretations of love, desire and friendship in both novels is far from stuffy and old-fashioned. In The Pursuit of Love, our protagonist Linda is an eccentric flirt who has no qualms about jumping from one marriage to the next. In Love in a Cold Climate, the reserved Polly shocks everyone with her controversial choice of husband (I won't reveal who it is, because spoilers). In the second act, Polly’s mother, in a fit of grief, becomes infatuated with her own nephew, the campy and queer Cedric, who teaches her about beauty, art and fashion. Each storyline is given appropriate time and weight to make these characters and their situations believable, not just cheap thrills.
To contrast these scandalous tales of lust and devotion is our narrator, the quiet and ‘normal’ Fanny, cousin to Linda and friend to Polly. Fanny’s love life is only ever alluded to – a conventional tale that complies with the societal expectations – and it pales in comparison to Linda’s adventures and Polly’s secrets. These novels made an astonishing impression on me, if not for pure shock-factor, then for the effortlessly readable writing and engaging characters. Even with a big ensemble cast, side characters such as Davey and Uncle Matthew felt so alive and real.
But I think my connection to these novels was also influenced by reading this during the pandemic, because some of the musings on war and history felt particularly relevant. By the end of The Pursuit of Love, WWII has officially begun. Linda laments; ‘I’m sure in history the two wars will become as one war and that we shall be squashed out of it altogether, and people will forget that we ever existed.’ To which her uncle, Davey, replies: ‘It may become a sort of literary curiosity. […] People will be interested in it for all the wrong reasons, and collect Lalique dressing-table sets and shagreen boxes and cocktail cabinets lined with looking-glass and find them very amusing.’
This exchange struck me two-fold. To begin with, Mitford predicted the future. World War II is exactly, as Davey puts it, a ‘literary curiosity’. It continues to be the subject of films, novels, and documentaries, eighty years after the fact – it’s almost become its own genre of media. But the second thing that struck me was the question of whether the same would be true for the generation living through COVID-19? Will this time in history become a ‘literary curiosity’ in the same way? Or will we, as Linda fears, be forgotten? Only time will tell …
In summation, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate offered much more than I expected, and gave me much to think about.