The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford

I will be honest, even I can’t object to the beautiful style of Nancy Mitford. Her writing is elegant in its directness and simplicity. It’s as if you can hear the narrator chatting away about this and that. It is absolutely beautiful. Having said all that, what a collection of thoroughly unpleasant characters!

The story follows Linda, a young aristocrat in the pursuit of love (see what I did there…?) as told by her cousin and friend Fanny. That in itself is actually quite interesting because she has somehow combined all possible types of narration in one: omniscient narrator, first person narrator and third person narrator. Well played Ms Mitford, well played. There is also a wonderfully sarcastic and bitter undertone in the whole story that is so subtle you can actually miss it. In terms of style my main objection is the “little did she know” sort of catchphrase that is used all along. I never liked it simply because it actually does not give anything to the story and after you use it 3 or 4 times the reader loses interest.

Now in terms of characters, where do I start? Let’s start with Linda, shall we? I have been racking my brains to understand why she is supposedly such a beloved character. Here be very mild spoilers so be warned and if you object to them good day to you! I do not object to her reckless and insane lifestyle in the least, she was an airhead in the beginning so I had no doubt she would remain one as the book progressed. But her treatment of her daughter is by no means amusing and if Fanny (in her exceptionally high horse by the way!) tries to make it sound amusing she is gravely mistaken. The treatment to the child is despicable and the humorous comparison of raising a child to dog training is aggravating! If Linda, or Fanny for that matter, were to get sick at any part of this story I would be rooting for the plague!

So the main characters, and their love lives I’m afraid, were not my cup of tea. I can only say how much I adored some of the secondary characters. Can we have a book on Davey please? I promise to eat all my greens if we do! He is in every sense extraordinary. His early hippie tendencies as well as his hypochondria are delicious (I’m currently eating a chocolate so this might affect my descriptions from now on!). And then, of course, the wonderful Bolter- she is brilliant because she does not pretend to be anything she isn’t and she does not give a damn about anyone else! War rations, you say? Three pregnant women sitting on a cold floor while she takes the chair by the fire? Hah!  Last, but certainly not least, Uncle Matt- the racist, narrow minded, sexist landowner we all love to hate. Well played Ms Mitford, well played indeed.

There is one scene that will remain my absolutely favourite, possibly in years to come: when Linda describes how her house got practically razed to the ground during the blitz she says: “My bed simply went through the floor, Plon-plon and I went on it, most comfortable”. I rest my case.

Enjoyed it: If only Linda and Fanny were not there…

Read again: The jury is out on this one.

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