What do you think?
Rate this book
NANCY MITFORD
Nancy Mitford was witty, intelligent, often acerbic, a great tease and an acute observer of upper-class English idiosyncrasies. With the publication of her novels, above all The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate and The Blessing, she became a huge bestseller and a household name.
An inspired letter writer, she wrote almost daily to a wide variety of correspondents, among them Evelyn Waugh, Harold Action, John Betjeman, Lord Berners, Lady Seafield, and, of course, her sisters.
Selina Hastings captures equally the gaiety and frivolity and the unhappy truth of Nancy Mitford's life: her failed marriage and her long, unfulfilled relationship with 'the Colonel' contrasting sharply with literary celebrity and glittering social success. Selina Hastings has written a biography that is superbly entertaining and clear-eyed, of a life that Diana Mosley spoke of as being 'so sad one can hardly bear to contemplate it'.
An inspired letter writer, she wrote almost daily to a wide variety of correspondents, among them Evelyn Waugh, Harold Action, John Betjeman, Lord Berners, Lady Seafield, and, of course, her sisters.
Selina Hastings captures equally the gaiety and frivolity and the unhappy truth of Nancy Mitford's life: her failed marriage and her long, unfulfilled relationship with 'the Colonel' contrasting sharply with literary celebrity and glittering social success. Selina Hastings has written a biography that is superbly entertaining and clear-eyed, of a life that Diana Mosley spoke of as being 'so sad one can hardly bear to contemplate it'.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
23 people are currently reading
531 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 8, 2019
I’m well-acquainted with the Mitford sister lore through other works about their extraordinary family - and I would especially recommend Mary S. Lovell’s 2002 biography titled The Sisters or Charlotte Mosley’s The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters for a good overview of the family and the interaction between all six sisters. This was my first biography to feature Nancy on her own, and while it was very readable, there was also something dissatisfying about it. Although the author seemed at pains to give equal time/weight to the various ‘eras’ of Nancy’s life, I felt like the book often just skimmed the surface. I did learn a bit more about Nancy’s frustrating and painful relationships with men (first Hamish Erskine, then her husband Peter Rodd, and finally her great unrequited love for Gaston Palewski), and of her friendships, her travel, her houses and finally her writing, but I felt like I got no greater insight into her character. Perhaps this is partly the fault of the subject, because Nancy was well-known for her ‘shopfront’ - the Mitford expression for concealing one’s inner feelings and putting on a brave face or a good show. Her letters were arch, teasing, comical and prone to huge exaggeration - and although they give a sense of the social personality she projected, they don’t hint much at true thoughts or feelings.
There were many things I found myself disliking about Nancy - her enormous snobbery, and inexplicable likes and dislikes, and surprisingly disloyalties - and overall, I feel like I finished this biography with less sympathy for its subject than I had previous to reading it. I think I will always be fond of The Pursuit of Love - that novel with so much of her own experience in it - but for me, Nancy is of more interest when placed within the context of her family.
There were many things I found myself disliking about Nancy - her enormous snobbery, and inexplicable likes and dislikes, and surprisingly disloyalties - and overall, I feel like I finished this biography with less sympathy for its subject than I had previous to reading it. I think I will always be fond of The Pursuit of Love - that novel with so much of her own experience in it - but for me, Nancy is of more interest when placed within the context of her family.
August 1, 2022
4,25 stars - English Ebook
Quote: In 1876 Tap married Jessica, the daughter of Major-General Charles Evans-Gordon. They had four children, two boys followed by two girls, before Jessica died at the age of thirty-five. As soon as they were old enough the boys, Geoffrey and George, were sent away to school, but their sisters, Sydney and Dorothy (Weenie), were brought up at home, very much under the eccentric influence of their father.
In many ways Tap was a modern father, believing in fresh air and exercise, plain food and natural remedies, unconventional theories for an age in which four large meals a day was the custom, with often a little carriage exercise the only aid to digestion.
Even more unconventional, Tap liked to have his daughters with him; cumbersomely dressed in stiff serge sailor-suits made specially at Gieves, Sydney and Weenie accompanied their father wherever he went: shooting in Scotland; on his long and dangerous sea-voyages (sailing was a passion he had inherited from his father); on his yacht during the summer season at Deauville with his artist friends, Boldini, Tissot and Helleu; and back in London, paying calls on the fashionable ladies of Pont Street and Belgrave Square, who were not always entirely delighted to have to receive into their drawing rooms two quaintly-dressed and silent little girls.
From the age of fourteen it was Sydney who ran the household, a responsibility she enjoyed, being good at adding up and keeping accounts, although she hated having to deal with the men servants who were often insolent and drunk.
It was in the winter of 1894 that Bertie Mitford asked Tap if he would come and speak for him at a political meeting,stay at Batsford, and of course bring the children.
The Bowleses went down by train, were met at the station by a waggonette and pair and driven to the house, where they were shown into the library, Tap going first, the two girls in their hated sailor-suits trailing behind. Bertie and Lady Clementine were standing before a blazing fire; and there, with his back to the fire and one foot on the fender, dressed in a shabby velveteen jacket such as gamekeepers wore, was David Mitford. At seventeen, he was already startlingly handsome. Sydney, three years younger, fell in love with him at once.-
Nancy Mitford’s life was as glamorous and as dramatic as her most famous novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate.
Mitford was witty, intelligent, often acerbic, a great tease, and an acute observer of upper-class English idiosyncrasies. With the publication of her comic novels, based in part on her eccentric family, she became a huge bestseller and household name. An inspired letter writer, she wrote almost daily to a wide variety of correspondents, among them Evelyn Waugh, Harold Acton, John Betjeman, and, of course, her famous sisters.
Noted biographer Selina Hastings captures the gaiety and frivolity as well as the unhappy truth of Nancy Mitford’s life: her failed marriage and her long, unfulfilled relationship with her dashing but unfaithful French lover contrasting sharply with literary celebrity and glittering social success.
Quote: In 1876 Tap married Jessica, the daughter of Major-General Charles Evans-Gordon. They had four children, two boys followed by two girls, before Jessica died at the age of thirty-five. As soon as they were old enough the boys, Geoffrey and George, were sent away to school, but their sisters, Sydney and Dorothy (Weenie), were brought up at home, very much under the eccentric influence of their father.
In many ways Tap was a modern father, believing in fresh air and exercise, plain food and natural remedies, unconventional theories for an age in which four large meals a day was the custom, with often a little carriage exercise the only aid to digestion.
Even more unconventional, Tap liked to have his daughters with him; cumbersomely dressed in stiff serge sailor-suits made specially at Gieves, Sydney and Weenie accompanied their father wherever he went: shooting in Scotland; on his long and dangerous sea-voyages (sailing was a passion he had inherited from his father); on his yacht during the summer season at Deauville with his artist friends, Boldini, Tissot and Helleu; and back in London, paying calls on the fashionable ladies of Pont Street and Belgrave Square, who were not always entirely delighted to have to receive into their drawing rooms two quaintly-dressed and silent little girls.
From the age of fourteen it was Sydney who ran the household, a responsibility she enjoyed, being good at adding up and keeping accounts, although she hated having to deal with the men servants who were often insolent and drunk.
It was in the winter of 1894 that Bertie Mitford asked Tap if he would come and speak for him at a political meeting,stay at Batsford, and of course bring the children.
The Bowleses went down by train, were met at the station by a waggonette and pair and driven to the house, where they were shown into the library, Tap going first, the two girls in their hated sailor-suits trailing behind. Bertie and Lady Clementine were standing before a blazing fire; and there, with his back to the fire and one foot on the fender, dressed in a shabby velveteen jacket such as gamekeepers wore, was David Mitford. At seventeen, he was already startlingly handsome. Sydney, three years younger, fell in love with him at once.-
Nancy Mitford’s life was as glamorous and as dramatic as her most famous novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate.
Mitford was witty, intelligent, often acerbic, a great tease, and an acute observer of upper-class English idiosyncrasies. With the publication of her comic novels, based in part on her eccentric family, she became a huge bestseller and household name. An inspired letter writer, she wrote almost daily to a wide variety of correspondents, among them Evelyn Waugh, Harold Acton, John Betjeman, and, of course, her famous sisters.
Noted biographer Selina Hastings captures the gaiety and frivolity as well as the unhappy truth of Nancy Mitford’s life: her failed marriage and her long, unfulfilled relationship with her dashing but unfaithful French lover contrasting sharply with literary celebrity and glittering social success.
February 15, 2009
I read a review of this biography on Amazon that said beware - if you read this book you will be bitten by the Mitford bug. well I suspect I was bitten by the Mitford bug some time ago. Although I have only fairly recently read In the Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, I read the wonderful biography The Mitford girls about 18 months ago - and got seriously hooked then.
This biography is very readable, often funny, and a must for any mitford fans. well written it is an affectionate but honest portrayal of one member of what I consider to be a most fascinating family. I have another biography by Selina Hastings on mnt toobie - the biography of Rosamond Lehmann, which I am looking forward to.
This biography is very readable, often funny, and a must for any mitford fans. well written it is an affectionate but honest portrayal of one member of what I consider to be a most fascinating family. I have another biography by Selina Hastings on mnt toobie - the biography of Rosamond Lehmann, which I am looking forward to.
October 17, 2014
I loved it, but I am currently obsessed with the Mitford sisters. And of all of them, Nancy is my favourite.
March 7, 2013
For starters, this biography of one of the wittiest women of her generation doesn't contain a single funny line. Told largely through long quotations from Mitford's voluminous correspondence, the book oddly fails to illuminate the inner life of its subject. It's a very humdrum affair, taking you through the stages of Mitford's life and career without shedding any light on her complex relationships with her large cohort of sisters or her poor choice of male partners.
November 12, 2014
This is Nancy through the eyes of Diana and Debo, and, while the sisters know her, one wonders how much they truly understand.
March 25, 2023
What an interesting, pleasant book to read. I have read most of the books about the Mitford family, enjoying every one of them. I have visited Chatsworth and seen the grave of Kathleen Kennedy. (Yes there is a connection - look it up). So there was nothing ‘new’ in this book to me. But I eagerly turned every page, because this was just about Nancy. The author almost told the biography with the voice of Nancy herself. The crazy childhood, the crazier war years, the failed marriage and miscarriages, and the compulsion to have enough money for beautiful clothes and independence- these were all explored in great detail. Then the heart breaking love affair was shared with the reader by letters Nancy herself wrote. It is unbelievable to think such a brilliant and wise woman, a successful author, could have written the words she did to her womanizing lover. But love is blind, as Nancy knew, understood and accepted. What an amazing life she led!
September 21, 2022
This is the type of biography I enjoy- one that gives a sense of the time in which a person (or in this case, a person, her family and her social circle) lived as well as documenting their life. It didn't shy away from pointing out the (many) problematic elements of Nancy and her family (classism, fascism, racism, pretty much all the -isms!), though it also endeavors to place them in their historical place and time. But this is not a fawning biography: Nancy's flaws are conveyed with as clear an eye as her strengths and I think the reader is given a fascinating and balanced portrait.
Solid 4 stars.
Solid 4 stars.
May 2, 2024
This author pulled up specific information and trivia about Nancy Mitford, that which I had not read in previous biographies about the sisters. It seemed Nancy, the eldest of six sisters and a brother, was almost the forgotten sister in a sense. She was certainly mercurial but in no wise much concerned with politics, unlike several of her sisters.
Enjoyable and a quick read.
Enjoyable and a quick read.
June 5, 2021
I just needed a bit of Mitford in my life, being ill and having just watched the Pursuit of Love on the BBC- this biography didn’t disappoint, from start to finish a fascinating slice of British upper class life with plenty of hilarity, snobbery, sadness and bitchiness. A delight.
September 28, 2010
I'm deep into "Mitford Mania" as I would call it, but Selina Hasting's biography of Nancy Mitford failed to live up to the previous biographies I've read about Nancy and the other sisters.
The biography is very well done in regards to going into detail about Nancy's life and the people surrounding it. I quite enjoyed learning more about Peter Rodd, Hamish Erskine, and the Coopers. However, I felt as though Nancy's charm didn't come through as well as it does in other biographies. She appears a bit more embittered and cutting than in previous books that I've read, and I prefer my Nancy a little more clever and sarcastic. Maybe Hastings portrayal is more accurate, but I'll take my Nancy with a little more sugar and a little less spice.
The biography is very well done in regards to going into detail about Nancy's life and the people surrounding it. I quite enjoyed learning more about Peter Rodd, Hamish Erskine, and the Coopers. However, I felt as though Nancy's charm didn't come through as well as it does in other biographies. She appears a bit more embittered and cutting than in previous books that I've read, and I prefer my Nancy a little more clever and sarcastic. Maybe Hastings portrayal is more accurate, but I'll take my Nancy with a little more sugar and a little less spice.
February 26, 2013
I really enjoyed reading about the Mitford sisters, even though they seem to have lived in some parallel universe. Comedy and tragedy went closely together in the stratum of wealthy,witty and beautiful people.
September 1, 2009
Worth reading for the Mitford obsessed.
October 19, 2013
had to pick this one up again to recall Nancy Mitford's life, friends, Mitford sisters' backstory; since just re-read LICC and POL, my favorites.
last read 5/08
last read 5/08
Want to read
December 28, 2012Dec 27, 2012
Not available as an ebook at any of my other libraries
Not available as an ebook at any of my other libraries
June 9, 2013
An excellent bio of Nancy Mitford - Hastings is a fantastic biographer
September 4, 2013
I simply adored it and adored her. Bless this great lady who's one of my favorite authors ever.
October 28, 2015
The book covers familiar groung, but is both fun and very moving.
March 29, 2018
This biography does a decent job outlining the main events of Nancy Mitford's life, especially her family background. However, I found it a bit bland and uninspiring. It felt as if the biographer didn't warm up to her heroine very much, and, at times, an almost disparaging tone broke through. The book is on the short side, and in the end I was left wishing for a little more insight into Nancy's personality.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews