The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
I also reread Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love, which is by far the best Mitford authored book. (Hons and Rebels, an autobiography by her sister Jessica, covers a lot of the same ground and has not held up as well. Baby sister, Deborah, the Duchess of Devonshire, wrote a few lackluster memoirs, undoubtedly to support Chatsworth, her husband’s family home.)
The Pursuit of Love takes place between the wars on an estate in Gloucestershire belonging to the eccentric, aristocratic Radlett family, who are modeled on Mitford’s own eccentric, aristocratic family. Living at Alconleigh, where amenities are few, are Uncle Matthew, a terrifying, 19th C figure, his dotty wife, Aunt Sadie, seven Radlett children, and their first cousin Fanny, whose mother is referred to as The Bolter.
The witty novel follows the romantic misadventures of daughter Linda and her confidant, the more level-headed cousin Fanny.
Literary escape fiction!