The Pursuit of Love cover art

The Pursuit of Love

Now a major series on BBC and Prime Video directed by Emily Mortimer and starring Lily James and Andrew Scott

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The Pursuit of Love

By: Nancy Mitford
Narrated by: Bessie Carter
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

One of the funniest, sharpest novels about love and growing up ever written, Nancy Mitford's classic is now major BBC and Prime Video series directed by Emily Mortimer and starring Lily James, Andrew Scott and Dominic West

'He was the great love of her life you know.'
'Oh, dulling,' said my mother, sadly, 'One always thinks that. Every, every time.'

Oh, the tedium of waiting to grow up! Longing for love, obsessed with weddings and sex, Linda and her sisters and cousin Fanny are on the lookout for the perfect lover.

But finding Mr Right is much harder than any of the sisters had thought. Linda must suffer marriage first to a stuffy Tory MP and then to a handsome and humourless communist, before finding real love in war-torn Paris . . .

NANCY MITFORD'S WICKEDLY FUNNY SERIES CONTINUES IN LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE AND DON'T TELL ALFRED.

'Utter, utter bliss' Daily Mail

'A pleasure as intense as inheriting a perfect pearl necklace, or finding a silk dress in a vintage shop that fits like a glove' Caitlin Moran, Harper's Bazaar

'Peerless' Zoe Heller

© Nancy Mitford 1945 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Contemporary Contemporary Romance Literature & Fiction Romance Women's Fiction Comedy Funny Witty Feel-Good War

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Critic reviews

Utter, utter bliss
A dazzling comic delight
Too spiky and intelligent, I think, to qualify as an altogether cosy read [...] beneath the brittle surface of Mitford's wit there is something infinitely more melancholy at work - something that is apt to snag you and pull you into its dark undertow when you are least expecting it
All stars
Most relevant
It’s a such a disappointment when you listen to a book you’ve loved reading and hear the audio version mangled by a poor reader. In future I will steer clear of anything narrated by Bessie Carter.

Superb book but…

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Absolutely wonderful and hilarious. Sad at the end. Uncle Matt terrifying. Half way through, I realised I had read this book once before when I was young and more easily mystified and indeed shockable!

Wonderful

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Lovely, light and entertaining. The book strongly reflects the TV adaptation. A great story without too much challenge.

Very much like the TV series

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This is the best and most comforting book ever perfect for long car rides and rainy days

Amazing

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Well I’m fairly fascinated by the Mitford sisters and the extremes of their convictions so I’d had my eye on this insight into those lives for a while. Obviously this is a fictional story but I tend to subscribe to the belief that truth hides in plain sight in works of fiction. This did not disappoint! I particularly enjoyed the somewhat scathing comment that fox hunting allows one to have absolutely nothing in their head and that this might explain why stupid people enjoy it so much… it’s witty and disturbing with more than one reference to Hitler (not surprising given the Mitford family history).

Long time to get round to it but thoroughly fascinated by it!

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