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Love in a Cold Climate [Paperback]

Nancy Mitford
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

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Book Description

August 10, 2010
One of Nancy Mitford’s most beloved novels, Love in a Cold Climate is a sparkling romantic comedy that vividly evokes the lost glamour of aristocratic life in England between the wars.

Polly Hampton has long been groomed for the perfect marriage by her mother, the fearsome and ambitious Lady Montdore. But Polly, with her stunning good looks and impeccable connections, is bored by the monotony of her glittering debut season in London. Having just come from India, where her father served as Viceroy, she claims to have hoped that society in a colder climate would be less obsessed with love affairs. The apparently aloof and indifferent Polly has a long-held secret, however, one that leads to the shattering of her mother’s dreams and her own disinheritance. When an elderly duke begins pursuing the disgraced Polly and a callow potential heir curries favor with her parents, nothing goes as expected, but in the end all find happiness in their own unconventional ways.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Mitford’s art at its best is so fine, so beautifully shimmering with wit and gaiety that it creates a standard of its own.” —The New Republic

“Entirely original, inimitable, and irresistible.” —Spectator

About the Author

Nancy Mitford, daughter of Lord and Lady Redesdale and the eldest of the six legendary Mitford sisters, was born in 1904 and educated at home on the family estate in Oxfordshire. She made her debut in London and soon became one of the bright young things of the 1920s, a close friend of Henry Green, Evelyn Waugh, John Betjeman, and their circle. A beauty and a wit, she began writing for magazines and writing novels while she was still in her twenties. In all, she wrote eight novels as well as biographies of Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, Louis XIV, and Frederick the Great. She died in 1973. More information can be found at www.nancymitford.com.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (August 10, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 030774082X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307740823
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.8 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Nancy Mitford's writing style is very unique and highly enjoyable. Stella (Ex Libris)  |  9 reviewers made a similar statement
Beautifully written and flows off the page in an entertaining and often amusing manner. Christine Boden  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
The only reason I do not give it five stars is that I feel it ends too abruptly. Paul Scott  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Lady Montdore finally finds the daughter she never had. September 15, 2006
Format:Paperback
This is a fun, interesting novel that is not for anyone who does not love irony. It is perhaps best appreciated by people who may like Waugh (I think they were friends). Possibly if anyone likes Jan Austen, this novel will please you as well. The similarities to Austen are only in the stucture of certain scenes, and the happy, silliness of the plot wonderfully subverts Jane Austen. Its a really sad and comic look at love and women. It is perhaps mostly about the changing times for women of a particular class. The only reason I do not give it five stars is that I feel it ends too abruptly. But the last scene is magnificent. Look for the paralels between it and the last scenes of sense and sensibility. Its great!

This book is not for the girly, sentimental novel reading sort unless you have a good sense of humor.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Kindle Bonus March 12, 2010
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Kindle edition by Penguin Classics (ASIN: B002RI9YOQ) also contains the novels "The Pursuit of Love" and "The Blessing"
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A modern classic June 29, 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
On August 10th Vintage will reissue several classic novels by Nancy Mitford, including Love in a Cold Climate. Mitford was perhaps the brightest of the "Bright Young Things" immortalized in the fiction of Evelyn Waugh.

Originally published in 1949, Love in a Cold Climate is a comedy of manners that revolves around the naughty Polly Montdore, whose scandalous marriage left her disinherited, and her Canadian cousin Cedric Hampton, the heir apparent.

The action of both this and its prequel, The Pursuit of Love, run concurrently, taking place between the wars, with everyone's favorite cousin, Fanny Wincham, serving as impartial narrator.

Aside from an engaging storyline, tart wit and charming prose style, Love in a Cold Climate is of particular relevance to gay readers for the no nonsense presentation of the flamboyantly aesthetic Cedric, who is thoroughly and unrepentantly gay. He is a rather heroic character (not at all tragic like poor Sebastian Flyte from Brideshead Revisited and so many other gays of pre-Stonewall literature), possessed of great personal magnetism and self-esteem; and though his open homosexuality alternately shocks and delights society, he ultimately proves a great catalyst for happiness and reconciliation in the lives of those closest to him.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Very funny and very shallow look at the U class, 1930s
Nancy Mitford followed her very successful Pursuit of Love with, I think, the very entertaining, but much less interesting Love in a Cold Climate. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Laurence R. Bachmann
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
This is a great read for folks who like books like Brideshead Revisited or Remains of the day. Some characters similar to people in "Mitford Sisters"
Published 10 days ago by Fredric Suresh
3.0 out of 5 stars A good read
I enjoyed reading this book as it was light and funny. Lots of interesting characters who were well described. It is a well written book and I highly recommend it.
Published 12 days ago by Lynette Stephenson
5.0 out of 5 stars Love in a Cold Climate
I am a Nancy Mitford fan from way back, reading this book inspired me to down load some more for future reading.
Published 15 days ago by Margaret Hardwick
4.0 out of 5 stars Style: A, Subject matter: Ew
It's kind of extraordinary, reading this nowadays. Its cavalier attitude towards (let's face it) paedophilia, is quite a shock for the modern reader. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pygmy Possum
5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem
I don't remember what I expected from this book but it definitely wasn't the biting social satire of upper class England in the 1930s that I found. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Francene
5.0 out of 5 stars Love in a Cold Climate
I really enjoyed this book a great read and really interesting. I would recommend this book for quiet holiday reading.
Published 4 months ago by Nee
4.0 out of 5 stars A Frozen Treat
This novel is easy to get into, hard to put down, and very funny along the way, but still coldblooded in the end. It's farce, not comedy. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Anne Mills
5.0 out of 5 stars pure pleasure
This is an old favourite of mine - lent and lost my copy so I was very happy to reconnect. Also brought back memories of the delightful long series with Judi Dench. Read more
Published 5 months ago by jo-anne
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant writing
I knew Nancy was a great writer but had not read anything of hers for a while.
It was so good to rediscover something that evokes the period so brilliantly. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Christine Boden
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