Love in a Cold Climate & The Pursuit of Love

Love in a Cold Climate & The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford explores themes of love, family, and politics within the highly entertaining world of the British aristocracy between the two World Wars. These are two comic masterpieces from the eldest of the endlessly fascinating Mitford sisters, recently brought to life on television.

Nancy Mitford drew inspiration from her own unconventional (and, at the time of writing, notorious) family for the characters in these beloved novels. Through the eyes of their cousin Fanny, known as 'the Bolter’s girl,' readers are introduced to the Radletts during one of her frequent visits to their country estate. The family includes Uncle Matthew, the blustering patriarch who famously owns a bloodied entrenching tool above the fireplace and hunts his children with bloodhounds; the vague Aunt Sadie; and six children who are recklessly eager to grow up.

The Pursuit of Love tells the story of Linda, the most beautiful and wayward of the Radlett daughters. Her romantic adventures lead her from a stuffy Tory politician to an ardent Communist, whom she follows to the Spanish Civil War, and finally to a very wicked and irresistibly charming French duke.

Love in a Cold Climate, again recounted by Fanny, focuses on Polly Hampton. Polly has been long groomed for the perfect marriage by her fearsome mother, Lady Montdore, yet she is secretly determined to pursue her own path.