Customer Reviews

Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh

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Poor Evelyn (talented, grumpy, constantly worrying about money) writes to lovely Nancy (talented, cheerful, constantly worrying about her Colonel) about real or imagined slights. Nancy charmingly takes him down a few notches when he deserves it (sometimes he's a bit of a bully). It is a joy to read the letters, even the squabbles (but especially the gossip - I'll never think of Graham Greene in quite the same way again). The comfort of old friends. How I shrieked!! (as Nancy would say)

Evelyn to Nancy 12 Nov 1944:
'In the hope of keeping him quiet for a few hours Freddy & I have bet Randolph [Churchill] 20 pounds that he cannot read the whole Bible in a fortnight. It would have been worth it at the price. Unhappily it has not had the result we hoped. He has never read any of it before and is hideously excited; keeps reading quotations aloud or merely slapping his side and chortling "God, isn't God a s##t". '

What more can you say about such giant personalities? These letters can be catty, wildly funny, and rarely boring. A combined conversational autobiography.

If you enjoy any of either of these writer's work or their personality do not hesitate to buy this book at any price!

Once again Ms. Mosley has submitted for public consumption a fascinating collection. The letters that flew back and forth between these two literary giants are sparkling, witty, nasty and fabulous. They shed light on a glorious world of nobility and debauchery. Their correspondence fixes in my mind the fact that Nancy Mitford is the greatest mind of this century. Genius! Sheer genius!

Brava, Ms. Mosley, brava!