The Pursuit of Love cover art

The Pursuit of Love

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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 a 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.

©1945 Nancy Mitford (P)2021 Penguin Audio Contemporary Contemporary Romance Literature & Fiction Romance Comedy Funny Witty Feel-Good War

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Critic reviews

"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)
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I loved the narration and the story. Especially as I know this to be almost a true story. Perhaps a better time in England? It certainly sounded as if it was.

Just lovely

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Loved it - well performed and a facilitating look into the bright young things era. Saw parcelled with the stories of the Mitford sisters as written about by Jessica Mitford in Hons and Rebels.

Loved it

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Brilliant story brilliantly read. Highly recommend to all. I love Nancy Mitford and so cleverly and thoughtfully narrated

Excellent narration

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Jessica Mitford, one of Nancy's younger sisters, wrote a fragment of autobiography, Hons and Rebels which is a fascinating picture of pre World War II England. Nancy, the eldest of the Mitford sisters, grew up the the same family and in the same house as Jessica, and mined the same material for this fictional reworking of these eccentric characters and momentous events. Nancy's book is funnier, sadder, cleverer - a total delight. Read, or listen, to them both but not at the same time and see what you think of them both.

Funny, poignant, wise: a treasure of a book.

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I love this book and reread it with just as much pleasure and mirth every few years. Unfortunately the reader of this audible version completely fails to connect with the characters; her narration is adequate, but her dialogue is so misjudged that she loses most of the humour for which the book is so justly famous.

Wonderful book

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The narrator captured that quintessential English Ness and a by gone time! A great, easy listen 😊

A lovely book!

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A very light read with very gentle style of humour. Not everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed it.

very gentle and funny.

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this has recently been dramatised by BBC and I loved the book as much as the TV series. a real insight into events between the wars.

loved it

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I was engaged from start to finish with this story. The variety of characters are fantastic and Bessie Carter does a fantastic job of bringing them to life.

Brilliant!

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I listen more than read these days, due to age and eyesight troubles.
It’s one of my favourite books of all time. And i truly hate to give a negative review of the narrator. But sadly they didn’t get the humour across, well ,not for me anyway.

Old favourite

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