“Drawing on Nancy Mitford’s own poignant childhood memories from her exuberant novel The Pursuit of Love, Laura Thompson vividly evokes the swarm of brilliant and beautiful sisters, and their lone brother, growing up carefree in a succession of country houses in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire."
Description
Nancy Mitford was, in the words of her sister Lady Diana Mosley, “very complex.” Her highly autobiographical early work, the biographies and novels of her more mature French period, her journalism, and the vast body of letters to her family, to friends such as Evelyn Waugh, and to the great love of her life, Gaston Palewski, all tell an intriguing story. Drawing from these, as well as conversations with Mitford’s two surviving sisters, acquaintances, and colleagues, prizewinning author Laura Thompson has fashioned a portrait of a contradictory and courageous woman. Approaching her subject with wit, perspicacity, and huge affection, Thompson makes her serious points lightly, eschewing clichés about the eccentricities of the Mitford clan. Life in a Cold Climate is full of the sound of Mitfordian laughter; but also tells the often paradoxical and complex story beneath the smiling and ever-elegant façade.
Reviews
“Thompson evocatively depicts English writer Nancy Mitford in this stylish account. This sparkling and probing biography will please Mitford’s many fans.”
“Thompson (The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters, 2016) focuses here on the eldest daughter, writing eloquently and with deep understanding about the Mitford family dynamics. Whether it was estrangement from her parents, conflicts with her sisters, or damaging romantic relationships, Thompson succeeds brilliantly in revealing how every aspect of Mitford’s life was processed and dealt with in her writing. Thompson employs witty humor and uses it seamlessly, as Mitford did when she wrote about fascism, the Nazis, sexual orientation, adulthood, and beliefs.”
“The combination of poetic prose and dedicated research makes this an accessible a delightful read.”
