Highland Fling

by Nancy Mitford

Vacationing at Dalloch Castle in Scotland, Jane Dacre falls in love with Albert Gates, a surrealist painter whose practical jokes rub some people the wrong way

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Humor, British Literature, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Scotland

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Nancy Mitford, styled The Hon. Nancy Mitford before her marriage and The Hon. Mrs Peter Rodd thereafter, was an English novelist and biographer, one of the Bright Young People on the London social scene in the inter-war years. She was born at 1 Graham Street (now Graham Place) in Belgravia, London, the eldest daughter of Lord Redesdale, and was brought up at Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire. She was the eldest of the six controversial Mitford sisters.

She is best remembered for her series of novels about upper-class life in England and France, particularly the four published after 1945; but she also wrote four well-received, well-researched popular biographies (of Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Frederick the Great). She was one of the noted Mitford sisters and the first to publicize the extraordinary family life of her very English and very eccentric family, giving rise to a "Mitford industry," which continues.

Reviews

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Nancy Mitford that I adored. She's wonderful. I think alternating between her and Barbara Pym should be used to treat depression because both will have you laughing numerous times.
'Highland Fling' follows four people, Alfred, Jane, Sally and Walter (who have just recently got married) who are invited to spend time in a grand castle in Scotland by Sally's kindly relatives. Once there, there are arguments, disappearing picnic baskets, fires, drunken singsongs and general madness. Oh, and a love affair blossoms that has the potential to make or break the holiday.
Nancy Mitford is someone whom I would've loved to have known, I find myself so in sync with her humour that it makes me sad how little she wrote.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I'd never read any of Nancy Mitford's other novels, then reading this, her first novel, wouldn't have encouraged me to do so. Not that it doesn't have its good points. For example, you can't fault Mitford for writing what she knew about; that is, the lifestyle of the English upper class and the goings on of Bright Young Things in the 1920s. And the novel has some genuinely funny moments, such as a description of proceedings in the House of Lords. But overall, the characters are superficial, the action dull and the writing pedestrian. It reads like a story written by an enthusiastic school girl with rather less writing talent that she thought she had. I finished it because that's what I do, but it was hard to whip up much interest in either the Bright Young Things or the Dull Old Things who populate the novel.

However, for all I'm underwhelmed by Mitford's first attempt at a novel, I'm glad that she continued to write. I very much enjoyed The Pursuit of Love when I read it a few months ago and I seem to recall reading and loving Love in a Cold Climate when I was in my teens. In any event, I plan to read more of her work and, at some point, a Mitford biography. This book, though, I won't be reading again.

That said, I may remember more about it than I really want to. A scene towards the end comes to mind in that regard. A trio of young men in disguise appear at the door of one of the main characters. They're going to see a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. Why the disguise? As one of the young men says:

It is one thing to see a Gilbert and Sullivan, and quite another to be seen at one. We have our unborn children to consider, not to mention our careers.

The scene made me chuckle, but as I've generally enjoyed the G&S I've seen, I clearly would have been a failure as a 1920s Bright Young Thing.

[Karelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vraiment plus un 3 étoiles et demi que ce 3 étoiles qui me semble manquer de générosité, car même si c'était plus inégal que "Christmas Pudding" et que le début était assez long, il y a des passages qui m'ont vraiment, vraiment beaucoup fait rire (comme ce picnic et les péripéties qui s'en sont suivies; j'ai ri aux larmes pendant pratiquement tout le chapitre. Aussi, les deux fois où j'ai lu un roman de Nancy Mitford, je me suis sentie comme si le meurtre allait arriver d'une minute à l'autre, car ça se passe toujours dans des maisons de campagne avec un groupe réduit de personnes, généralement "witty" et sarcastiques, ayant des problèmes d'argent, des clash générationnels ou de classes sociales, parfois des désaccords ou des haines; mais il n'y a jamais de meurtre, ça finit simplement toujours par des situations rocambolesques et absurdes... au fond, j'écris tout ça maintenant, et je me rends compte que le style de Nancy Mitford me fait beaucoup penser à celui Georgette Heyer, surtout "Footsteps in the Dark" - il y avait même un "fantôme" dans "Highland Fling"!

P.-S: Ce n'est pas cette édition que j'ai lu, j'ai un gros volume avec tous les romans de Mitford.

[Elizabeth]

Oh look, I’ve finished another Nancy Mitford book!

This is her first. It doesn’t suffer for being her first, being just as full of sass and banter as any of the others, and possibly having even a bit more actual plot structure than some. And it’s set in Scotland! What’s not to like?

I finished this some time ago, then got hung up speed-reading for School Library Journal’s Battle of the Books, for which I was a judge, and though I wrote copious freeform reviews for all of them, I deemed it politic not to post ANY since the ones I didn’t like would end up conspicuous by their absence. And I am bored with negative reviews. Well. Anyway. The result is I don’t remember many specifics about Highland Fling, but I do appear to have written the following Note to Self inside the front cover: “Chapter 7 – WONDERFUL Glorious Twelfth.”

So there you are. If you want a splendid objective yet hilarious description of the opening day of the shooting season, check out Chapter 7 of Highland Fling.

“I have never been to Scotland… I am told that no cultured people ever go there now, so much is it démodé.” - Albert, before the fun begins

[Nigeyb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highland Fling was Nancy Mitford's first novel. It was published in 1931. I have recently bought all of Nancy Mitford's novels, and intend to read all eight.

It was interesting and informative for me, as someone who is working through each of Nancy Mitford's novels chronologically, to note that Jane Smiley, here in The Los Angeles Review of Books differentiates between Nancy Mitford's four pre-war novels, and her four post-war novels

But there is no real sense, in the pre-war works, of the grandeur and sophistication Mitford would achieve in the last four. There is, in fact, considerable evidence, especially in Wigs on the Green and Pigeon Pie, that Mitford's world view — compounded of knowing frivolity and evenhanded acceptance of the various political forces that are about to clash so tragically — is overwhelmed by her material. She can organise her story, more or less, and she can give her characters vivid life, but she can't acknowledge the meaning of their opinions or their actions. Her characters are imprisoned in a world where consequences are muffled by privilege and where all eccentricities are merely amusing. The clue to the narrowness of this world is Mitford's failure to introduce it systematically or to depict it with much detail. She writes from the centre of that world, for an audience who knows what she is talking about, for whom more explanation would retard the pace of the jokes.

The whole article is well worth a read, and it has whet my appetite for all of Nancy Mitford's work. I am encouraged to learn that her books should get progressively better and better.

Good comedic writing is notoriously difficult to do well. The sublime P.G. Wodehouse and early Evelyn Waugh, can reduce me to tears of laughter. Highland Fling, which provided the odd chuckle, suggests that Nancy Mitford might also have this talent.

Highland Fling is undeniably a pleasant read. The slight story has some great characters. Like P.G. Wodehouse, albeit on this occasion without the guaranteed hearty guffaws, what Nancy Mitford achieves in her first novel, is a window into the English aristocracy in the first half of the twentieth century. Nancy Mitford's nuanced descriptions of the personalities that populate Highland Fling highlight the acute intergenerational conflicts between the Bright Young Things and "the grown ups", many of whom are traditional, austere, stereotypically aristocratic Victorian characters. These figures are brought to life with clarity and wit. Nancy Mitford also manages to incorporate universal themes: relationships, family, love etc.

Highland Fling is a bit uneven, but I enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading more of her work. I am going to try to resist the temptation to read her second novel, Christmas Pudding (1932), before December 2013, so to better appreciate the novel's Christmas setting, but I may have to give in to the temptation to start reading it sooner.

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, light and filled with all the characters you'd expect from a Nancy Mitford novel.

Whilst it doesn't have the edge of The Pursuit of Love it still makes you smile as you read the comic adventures of Bright Young Things meeting their match in the entitled and genry of the Countryside!

Perfect reading for a Sunday Morning watching the snow fall (which is today)

[Good Books Good Friends · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plutôt un 3,5.
Une jolie découverte de Nancy Mitford, qui est de bon augure pour la suite. J'ai aimé la malice teintée de tendresse qui se dégage de son roman.

[We Are All Mad Here · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only three stars, but luckily I didn't read this one first and so my love for Nancy Mitford continues unabated.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm am profoundly happy that this was not the first novel I'd read by Mitford. Had it been I doubt I would have read any others. He writing and observations are, at best, superficial. Her characters are one dimensional and unbelievably absurd. There are traces of the wit and brilliant commentary that I've come to expect from reading her other works, but those aspects are painfully underdeveloped in Highland Fling.

[Alvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This witty, lighthearted frolic of a novel deftly (if gently) lampoons the British aristocracy of its day – both the stodgy, persnickety old guard and the vapid Bright Young Things. The aesthete protagonist, Albert, is particularly hilarious. It's rather like Wodehouse with a bit more bite and substance. Really, quite a treat.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laugh out loud funny!

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. This was my favorite of Nancy Mitford's novels so far. She is so good at writing aristocratic characters who are so deeply unaware, and so sure of themselves in their unawareness. In the foreword (written by, who else, Julian Fellows, who might even find Nancy's aristocrats to be rude to the aristocracy), he points out that the only person who has any kind of job is Albert, and he is a painter, working only when the mood strikes.

The people in this novel are the landed gentry, the cash-poor castle-rich with immensely easy lives who do not know the value of a dollar (or rather pound) and whose lives exist purely to go from function to function, or more likely, to avoid said functions for vacations abroad. The perspective shifts a few times, first following the dandy Albert, then introducing Jane, in love with Albert, then ending at Jane's friend Sally, whose aunt and uncle had invited all of them to a hunting party in Scotland. My favorite character was Sally's husband Walter. Their families give them 500 pounds a year to live on and with no other form of income and an insanely posh lifestyle, routinely go into debt.

"The Monteaths led a precarious existence...Whenever he was on the point of committing an extravagance of any kind he would excuse himself by explaining: 'Well, you see, darling, it's so much cheaper in the end.'...Sally learned to her surprise and dismay that 'it's cheaper in the end' to go to the most expensive tailor, travel first class, stay at the best hotels, and to take taxis everywhere. When asked why it was cheaper, Walter would say airily: 'Oh, good for our credit, you know!' or 'So much better for one's clothes,' or sulkily: 'Well, it is, that's all, everybody knows it is.'"

The best part was after the awful fire in the highland castle burns up all their belongings and they have to buy new ones, his original hope of traveling in Europe instead of that (free) hunting weekend really would have been cheaper in the end! Ha! (The fire made me laugh too. Lady Prague learns of the heroic saving of as many of the Victorian pieces as the guests could salvage and bemoans the fact that the only thing remaining is those awful Victorian pieces.) I loved Walter's reaction to Sally's pregnancy. He basically treats it as an inconvenience, but is pretty excited to have a little baby to shop for. After the fire, he's terrified his little Maurice/Minerva might come out with bright red hair and a fiery attitude. If so, he vows he'll commit infanticide!

The aristocracy is so weird. Whereas about 30 years after this book was written, youth would have been the ticket, the absolute epitome of cool and the aspiration for everyone who was anyone. But at this time period, which was the last gasp of many time periods before it, everyone who was anyone were desperate to be hobnobbing with such old farts, these absolute bores, these out-of-touch grannies with their staid furnishings and old fashioned hobbies. Sally is seated at dinner, trapped in between two, near-deaf older men, Lord Prague and Captain Chadlington, 'the latter appeared to possess a vocabulary of exactly three words--'I say!' and 'No!'--which he used alternately." Why a young woman would ever want to be at a party like that is beyond me. Many of the characters were precursors to the characters in Love in a Cold Climate and Pursuit of Love. General Murgatroyd, a bloodthirsty hunter with zero manners, is obviously modeled after her own father Lord Redesdale.

I loved Albert and Sally. They are so impulsive. He asks her to marry him after their weekend from hell. She says yes. He has a surprisingly successful art show back in London and Sally gets hideously jealous of his fame, completely sure he'll dump her so she writes him a note saying she's leaving him. But when he calls her up that night, she happily agrees and asks the butler to burn the note. According to Julian Fellowes, Nancy Mitford harbored a longtime unrequited crush on a Scottish aristocrat named Hamish St Clair-Erskine. Her avatar in her book gets the guy and skips off into the sunset.

Interestingly, it was written in 1931 and there actually was a little politics discussed. In one baffling conversation, Albert defends a kind of pacifism in the aftermath of the First World War, suggesting Napoleon's dream of a united Europe would be great because as he puts it, "The Germans are a people of undoubted culture and known for their exceptional efficiency. I daresay we should be no worse off under their administration than we are at present." He obviously has no understanding of the First World War, the Weimar Republic, or the burgeoning Nazi party and he dresses it up as an anti-war statement. Mr. Buggins (hilarious name), a didactic guest who gives long historical lectures that no one is interested in, takes great offense to the slander of warfare and the soldier's experience. He tells a long and weird story about being a kind of dandy before fighting in the War, and then realized that he could never return to that life because of what he had seen, so thank goodness he had had the War to engender some loyalty and patriotism in himself. Like I said, not exactly a recognizable takes about the geopolitics of the 1930s. I know that Nancy's own sisters were having impassioned debates about fascism, democracy, and the Jews of Europe, all with so much more gravity. This debate felt more like a culture clash of generations, with the irreverent young people not taking anything seriously. And of course General Murgatroyd wakes up just long enough to shout, " 'Down with the Huns! Down with the Frogs! Down with the Macaronis! Down with Uncle Sam! England for the English!' Exhausted by the effort of his oration he lay back once more in his chair and closed his eyes."

This book was so delightful and made me laugh out loud several times. Everyone should read Nancy Mitford! She is delightful!

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have started to read Nancy Mitford's work in a chronological order. Having heard nothing but good things about her later work I thought I would start at the beginning to see how her writing evolved over a 30 year writing career.
First Highland Fling!
Next Christmas Pudding.

[Selah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious romp of fluffy, ridiculous fun!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her first novel, not her best, but still a must for any Nancy Mitford fan (and let's face it, if you are not a Nancy Mitford fan, you are missing out). Certainly beats the heck out of a lot of other first novels I've read, and I think she was already really good, right out of the gate.

I bought this in the B&N store in Santa Monica -- that is a really good store, I was really impressed with what I found poking around in there. Anyway, at the very last minute I thought, oh let's just see if they have any Nancy Mitford -- they had almost all of it, including this book which I never see, and the one other book of hers I have not yet read. I almost bought that one, too, but if I read that one, there's no more. Too sad! So I left it there. Meanwhile, I can happily re-read the others over and over, so I can just keep that one in reserve for a while longer.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much of its time and place. Nothing dates faster than contemporary satire. Mitford intended to send up her own set and her parents', and from what we read she acheived that purpose. At the time it was found hysterically funny--not least because many of the characters were identifiable with real folks at the time. However, the time was 1931, so the majority of those references will fall rather flat unless the modern reader is steeped in fiction and biography of the period. I am, to a certain degree, but at this distance her intended waspish satire is gentled down to a few chuckles here and there.

A fast, light read for evening time. Mitford would be very annoyed by my shelving this as "Mostly Harmless"--so I think I will.

[Aurélia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Mitford a le chic de croquer les relations dans l'aristocratie britannique de l'entre-deux guerres d'une façon terriblement ironique et caustique. C'est assez plaisant, de la voir décrire cet univers d'oisiveté choquant, où l'argent est dilapidé puisque "c'est plus économique" de faire ainsi. J'ai beaucoup aimé les passages où Albert s'exprime par rapport à la guerre et sur le projet des Etats-Unis d'Europe, on y retrouve les opinions de l'autrice et cela ancre encore plus le récit dans le réel... tout en lui conférant une extrême modernité.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highland Fling by Nancy Mitford was published in 1931 and was her first novel. It follows a surrealist painter named Albert, a girl named Jane and a young married couple Sally and Walter. Sally’s relatives invite them all to stay at a Scottish castle. This results in ‘the bright young things’ butting heads with the older generation, a lot of hilarity and a budding romance between Albert and Jane.

This was such a delight! This was my first Nancy Mitford novel and while I know it’s not considered one of her best like The Pursuit of Love or Love in a Cold Climate, I really enjoyed it. I found her to be a hilarious and perceptive writer. Poking fun both at the younger and older generations of the upper classes. Her writing reminded me of P.G. Wodehouse and Angela Thirkell. Who knew so much humor came out of the 30’s!

While this isn’t considered one of her best novels, if you are new to Mitford like I was I highly recommend this one! I can’t wait to read more of her books now

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very funny book and there is definitely foreshadowing of the characters she develops in her better known books. But it does lack the depth of her later work; so much eccentricity is on display that a Fanny Logan is desperately needed to help balance it all out.

Picnic baskets, Victorian tat (sorry, treasures) and going to see Gilbert and Sullivan in disguise provide some of the jokes here.

[Ann Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Entertaining , Jane Austen-like satire of idle aristocrats at a Scottish castle. Also pokes fun at the generation gap of the time (1931) as well as popular culture.

[inesmavis · Rating 2 out of 5]

zzz

(Mr.Buggins es el único personaje que realmente m ha caído bien)

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore Nancy Mitford's writing. It's always extremely funny, even when absolutely nothing is happening plot-wise, as is the case with HIGHLAND FLING.

I'm serious, there is NO plot to this novel whatsoever. Even the house fire towards the end barely affects the characters.

Everyone is sort of awful, so if that's not your cup of tea, you won't much like this, but if you enjoy horrible people sniping at each other, you'll enjoy HIGHLAND FLING just as much as I did.

[Darlene Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about the "lost generation", those who came of age after WWI. They are portrayed as spoiled, shallow and idealistic. The book was written in 1931 so the style is quite different from what we are used to reading now. The story is about idol rich people, some old, some young, who meet at a country house in Scotland. It does depict the difference between the generations quite well. There are humourous bits, but humour has changed over the years. I thought it was sad when a young protagonist remarked, "Happily, however, mankind is beginning to realize that war is of all crimes the most degraded; and when, which will soon happen, the great majority holds that view, peace will be permanent and universal." Such a lovely thought, but alas, almost 100 years later, war is still around. I found it hard to like any of the characters. But a good depiction of the times, all the same.

[Donna LaValley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having enjoyed Love I A Cold Climate, I found 2 more of her short satires, this and Pigeon Pie. In Highland Fling, her theme of British aristocratic snobbery centers on the snobbery of the younger vs. the older generation. It takes place mostly in a Scottish Castle during a “shooting party.”

The elders, most of whom are Peers in the House of Lords (or Generals of WWI), come off as dinosaurs in thought and deed, while the younger come off as asinine “aesthetes” who feel they own the world of art and good taste. The two sets amaze one another, but they remain almost outwardly civil, as one does to prove one’s place in the upper class.

There is a hilarious spoof on Scottish clan history, with attendant legends and warring clans. One character discusses with stultifying minutia the origins of any piece of antiquity, whether it’s a plaid variation or a line from a mostly unintelligible poem. Point taken.

A romance blooms in the younger set, and the ups and downs of that are very funny.

It’s a quick and enjoyable read for anyone who likes this kind of satire – which takes place between World Wars.

[Elena Sala · Rating 2 out of 5]

HIGHLAND FLING was Nancy Mitford's first published novel, written when she was in her 20's. It is a short, light period piece which captures high society glamour of the decades previous to WWII.
The central characters are four "Bright Young Things" and the story is told from their point of view. Basically, the story is about the clash of this quartet with the older generation of Establishment figures of Lords, Ladies and Generals.
Mitford's captures the boredom of country house parties dedicated to shooting game, rounds of pointless cocktails and inane conversation while ridiculing received ideas about social class, money and good taste.
The plot is weak indeed; however, the characters are well portrayed. Sometimes, her tone seems a bit too bright, and the laughs become somewhat forced. It is a pleasant, breezy read. Not the best from Mitford.

[Kthxbai! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not one of Mitford's best. This one lacks the really remarkable humor that I've come to expect from Nancy Mitford books. Also, the characters were curiously dull -- a far cry from the endearingly perverse Radletts and Dougdales -- and I was disappointed to find myself simply not caring about them at all. Not an unpleasant read with which to while away a few summer hours, but overall unsatisfying.

[Celia Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Mitford's books are always funny, but they also have an interesting dark side. There's a lot of hidden content in this seemingly inconsequential book about "Bright Young Things" on a summer vacation in Scotland between the wars. Is creativity a condition of youth? Do you lose it with your innocence? Mitford keeps the plot humming in its absurd way. The best bit follows the main character as she experiences the misery and discomfort of a traditional English hunt.

[Evi Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but just could not get there. Even after the 200 pages I could not tell half of the characters from one another and even the main characters did not seem like complete human beings. The book seemed to aim at being something in the world of Wodehouse, but it did not get there.

I have read other Mitford books and this one did not deliver on the same level than the others.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever and amusing.

I think Christmas Pudding was better, but this book is still an enjoyable read. It had a fun perspective on the Bright Young Things (which made for some hilarious moments!)

It's a good book, but not one of her best. I recommend that you read one of Nancy Mitford's other books before this one.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh so disappointing! The plot never went anywhere and it had very little of the cleverness I expected from Nancy Mitford after reading the others.