Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford: The Biography [Paperback]

Laura Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

This biography draws on Nancy Mitford's highly autobiographical early novels, the biographies and novels of her more mature French period, her journalism, and the vast body of letters to her sisters, lovers, and friends such as Evelyn Waugh and Cyril Connolly. Laura Thompson has put together a portrait of a courageous and contradictory woman—a woman who expressed anti-feminist views while living a life of financial and emotional independence; a woman who appeared quintessentially English but who was only wholly able to be herself once she moved to France; a woman who believed implacably that the best response to life's pain was laughter. Approaching her subject with wit, perspicacity, and huge affection, Laura Thompson, like Mitford, makes her serious points lightly. Eschewing cliches about the eccentricities of the Mitford clan, Thompson analyzes the contradictions and complexities at the heart of Nancy Mitford's life and work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A life story nearly as witty and provocative as the English author's delicious novels.” -- Kirkus Reviews

“Among the best of the many books about the notorious Mitfords.” -- Kirkus Reviews

“The author brings Mitford and her works back to life, skillfully balancing the writer and the woman.” -- Library Journal

About the Author

A writer and freelance journalist, Laura Thompson won the Somerset Maughan award for her first book, THE DOGS (Chatto, 1994). After leaving Oxford, where she studied English, she wrote and performed in a highly acclaimed one-woman show about the life and work of Jean Rhys.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747245754
• ISBN-13: 978-0747245759
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,729,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Annoying, September 8, 2005

By 

Megan "Megan" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford: The Biography (Paperback)

Possibly one of the more annoying books I've ever read. Ms. Thompson tries to write in a friendly, gossipy style, leading her to be flippant about some fairly serious world and personal events. She frequently lambasts other biographers of the Mitfords for reading too much into Nancy's books: but then on the same page she talk about all the subtext in her novels that MUST be true because otherwise she wouldn't have written about it.

Most annoyingly, she believes everything Nancy says. Now, I've read a fair amount of books about the Mitford sisters, and though it's never really said straight out, it seems fairly obvious to me that Nancy was something of a drama queen who exagerated, invented, and stretched truths about herself and her past. And no matter how many times her sisters gave interviews saying "well, that's not REALLY true" her stories are the most interesting so they're the ones that get retold. Ms. Thompson takes everything Nancy has said about herself and her life at face value, no matter how much it flies in the face of reason and record.

She especially enjoys talking about what a terrible mother Sydney was, going so far as to quote a letter Sydney wrote to an adult Nancy mentioning some naughty things Nancy did as a toddler and saying that this PROVES what a distant, uncaring mother Sydney really was. As though a mother reminiscing about a then embarrassing but now funny incident from many years ago makes her a horrible person.

So, no, I didn't like this book very much. If you're a die-hard Nancy fan then I suppose it's worth a read, but I didn't feel that it offered anything that hasn't been said before. I would read Mary S. Lovell's book, "The Sisters," instead.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treat! Smart, funny, acidic, February 27, 2005

By 

NYCBookLoverKate "NBLK" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford: The Biography (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book, in part because even more than a bio it is a critical essay about the intersection of Mitford's influences -- the eccentric Mitford family; WWI and II; the fading of an increasingly impoverished aristoracy; the privations inflicted upon England after WWII; English vs. French romantic mores; and many more.

A dry recitation of the facts of Mitford's life wouldn't be true to Mitford. Thompson delves into the world in which Mitford lived to point out and dispel the self-satisfied, scornful tags the politically correct assign to her today. Thompson captures Nancy as a multi-dimensional, complicated character, noting her inconsistencies and pointing to nuances other biographers have grievously missed -- or chosen to overlook (take your pick). Her opinionated lashing and revision of smug assessments and devaluations of Mitford and her work are, quite simply, hilarious.

If you've only read Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love, you'll get a lot out of this bio, but to really get the most out of it, try to read Pigeon Pie, Christmas Pudding, Highland Fling and Wigs on the Green (if you can find it). You might want to reread LIACC and TPOL too just before reading this bio. Her bios of historical figures are mentioned in the book, but not to the degree that you will fail to grasp anything if you have not read them.

Just really an engaging book and well worth owning -- I got it at the library, then went out and bought it to keep...

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars highly recommended for Mitford fans, July 12, 2004

By 

Margaret Johnston (Seabeck, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford: The Biography (Paperback)

Written in a charming and chatty style not unlike that of Nancy Mitford herself, _Life in a Cold Climate_ analyzes Mitford's life, works, and relationships in an engaging and perceptive way; the book is clearly based on excellent research (including extensive interviews with the two sisters of Nancy still alive when the book was written, Lady Diana Mosley and Deborah Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire) and a deep knowledge of Nancy's writings. I highly recommend it for those who want new insights into the complex and controversial Nancy Mitford.