Title: The Pursuit of Love
Original title: The Pursuit of Love
Author: Nancy Mitford
Publishing date 1e editon: 1945
Used edition: 2010
Number of pages: 205
Publisher: Penguin
Review written by: Nienke
Summary
Fanny thinks back on her youth and the holidays she spent at the family manor, Alconleigh. She remembers how those holidays were filled with hunting and endless conversations with her nieces about love and marriage. When her cousin Louisa is old enough to get married, the family organises a ball in her honour. There she meets her future husband, which leads to great jealousy with Linda, another niece. Linda meets her first husband two years later via their neighbour, Lord Merlin. The man she fancies is Anthony Kroesig, and she falls madly in love with him. Both families oppose to the marriage, but Anthony and Linda set it through and remain married for nine years, producing one daughter. The marriage does not go well and Linda does not interest herself the least bit for her daughter, Moira. The biggest problem is the fundamental difference in characters between Anthony and Linda. He only thinks about money and making more money, while she wants to have fun and thinks you shouldn’t worry that much about money.
Eventually Linda meets her second husband at her parents-in-law, Christian Talbot. She runs away with him, after which Anthony signs for divorce and Christian and Linda get married. In the mean time, Fanny gets engaged with Alfred Wincham and gets pregnant. Jassy, another niece, runs away to America to marry some second-class actor (a marriage that goes surprisingly well), and Matt, their nephew, runs of to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Christian and Linda go of to France to help refugees from the Spanish Civil War there. Everything seems to be fine at first but it soon turns out that Christian is in love with a girl called Lavender, who also works in the area. Linda leaves a letter in which she says it’s over between them and that he’d better marry Lavender, before taking the first train to Paris. Neither of them ever signs for divorce.
When Linda arrives in Paris, she discovers she is stuck there because she has no money left and her ticket for the rest of the track is invalid. She breaks down and cries, but is saved by a guy named Fabrice de Sauveterre. Linda falls in love with him and realises that this is true love. She becomes his mistress, he gets her an apartment, money and everything she needs. The following weeks are the happiest of Linda’s life, but when the war breaks out Fabrice directly sends her home. For several weeks Linda hears nothing of Fabrice, until one day he turns op to tell her he loves her. He stays the night and then goes back to France to continue fighting. Linda turns out to be pregnant, just like Louisa and Fanny. Louisa gives birth without any problems, but when Fanny and Linda give birth on the same day, only Fanny survives. Linda dies in delivery. Around the same time Linda dies, Fabrice is executed in France. It turned out he was an important person in the resistance against the Germans.
Main characters
The main characters in the book are Linda (litteraly the main character), Fanny (the narrator), Lord Merlin (the neighbour with a big influence on Linda), Anthony (the first husband), Christian (the second husband) and Fabrice (Mr Right). Below I will describe the first three characters in detail.
Fanny Logan: Fanny is the narrator. Her mother left her as a child and she grew up at her aunts. As a child she fantasised with her nieces about growing up and finding true love. Unlike her nieces, Fanny gets a proper education. She is calm, quiet and rational, and a bit dull. She eventually marries Alfred Wincham and adopts Linda’s baby afters she dies in childbirth.
Linda Radlett: Linda is the novels main character, though she does not narrate it. She is emotional, romantic and a bit unworldly. From an early age on she is looking for Mr Right. First, she thinks she found the right man in Anothony Kroesig, a dull Tory and a bit of an arse, with whom she is married for nine years and has a child. She then marries Christian Talbot, a Communist, but he also turns out not to be Mr Right. Eventually she meets Fabrice; Mr Right. Though they do not get married, she gets pregnant. Linda and Fabrice die around the same time, she in childbirth and he in an execution, for he played a major role in the resistance against the Germans.
Lord Merlin: Lord Merlin is Alconleighs eccentric neighbour who collects art and likes Dadaism. He’s in all manners a very modern and experimental person. He and Linda become good friends, and he helps her out from time to time or gives his commentary on the things she does. There isn’t much known about him, apart from his supportive role for Linda.
Explanation of the title
The title “The pursuit of love” refers to Linda’s search for true love.
Genre
(War) novel; partly autobiographic.
Time and place of action
“The pursuit of love” takes place in the Interbellum, the interwar period from 1918 – 1939, and the first part of the Second World War. The locations of action are England and France (mostly Paris and Perpignan).
Style
Nancy Mitford has a simple, easy accessible style of writing. She is neither critic nor cynic, is funny and has a timeless way of writing. Even though the novel was first published in 1945 it doesn’t seem old. Because of her ‘pure’ language the text remains ‘fresh’ upon this day.
Structure and perspective
The story has one narrator: Fanny. At first, she tells about her own memories, that she tells what Linda told her about her time in France and eventually she returns to her own memories.
The entire story is in chronological order, starting at the girls youth, followed by everything that led up to Linda’s death and the novels present.
Themes and motives
The central theme in this book is the pursuit of true love. This theme is seen mostly in Linda’s part of the story, but also in Jassy’s and Fanny’s stories. For instance: Jassy runs away to marry somebody she only met once, and quite briefly. Fanny is also looking for Mr Right, but a lot less impulsive than Jassy and Linda.
Author
Nancy Mitford (1904 - 1973) was an English writer and columnist. She grew up in a family with 6 children, all of them girls. Nancy and her sisters received home-education and had a strong bond. Mitfords books are partly autobiographical. For example, in “The Pursuit of Love” we see Linda, with whom Nancy shared a lot of characteristics, such as problems with taking stuff seriously.
Nancy Mitford published 8 novels, translations of French novels, journalistic texts and biographies of Louis XIV of France, Voltaire and Madame de Pompadour among others.
My opinion
“The Pursuit of Love” was an easy, quick to read book. Though it’s quite interesting to read something about life in England at the beginning of the 20th century and the story has some unexpected turns, the book has a certain lightness about it. Even though important, big themes as death while giving childbirth, love and ware are mentioned, Mitford handles it all a little casual.
Apart from that, the book is very well written. Mitford does manage to make a fictional persons love life interesting for over 250 pages by letting another character tell her story.
Read here the Dutch version of this book report.
Original title: The Pursuit of Love
Author: Nancy Mitford
Publishing date 1e editon: 1945
Used edition: 2010
Number of pages: 205
Publisher: Penguin
Review written by: Nienke
Summary
Fanny thinks back on her youth and the holidays she spent at the family manor, Alconleigh. She remembers how those holidays were filled with hunting and endless conversations with her nieces about love and marriage. When her cousin Louisa is old enough to get married, the family organises a ball in her honour. There she meets her future husband, which leads to great jealousy with Linda, another niece. Linda meets her first husband two years later via their neighbour, Lord Merlin. The man she fancies is Anthony Kroesig, and she falls madly in love with him. Both families oppose to the marriage, but Anthony and Linda set it through and remain married for nine years, producing one daughter. The marriage does not go well and Linda does not interest herself the least bit for her daughter, Moira. The biggest problem is the fundamental difference in characters between Anthony and Linda. He only thinks about money and making more money, while she wants to have fun and thinks you shouldn’t worry that much about money.
Eventually Linda meets her second husband at her parents-in-law, Christian Talbot. She runs away with him, after which Anthony signs for divorce and Christian and Linda get married. In the mean time, Fanny gets engaged with Alfred Wincham and gets pregnant. Jassy, another niece, runs away to America to marry some second-class actor (a marriage that goes surprisingly well), and Matt, their nephew, runs of to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Christian and Linda go of to France to help refugees from the Spanish Civil War there. Everything seems to be fine at first but it soon turns out that Christian is in love with a girl called Lavender, who also works in the area. Linda leaves a letter in which she says it’s over between them and that he’d better marry Lavender, before taking the first train to Paris. Neither of them ever signs for divorce.
Main characters
The main characters in the book are Linda (litteraly the main character), Fanny (the narrator), Lord Merlin (the neighbour with a big influence on Linda), Anthony (the first husband), Christian (the second husband) and Fabrice (Mr Right). Below I will describe the first three characters in detail.
Fanny Logan: Fanny is the narrator. Her mother left her as a child and she grew up at her aunts. As a child she fantasised with her nieces about growing up and finding true love. Unlike her nieces, Fanny gets a proper education. She is calm, quiet and rational, and a bit dull. She eventually marries Alfred Wincham and adopts Linda’s baby afters she dies in childbirth.
Linda Radlett: Linda is the novels main character, though she does not narrate it. She is emotional, romantic and a bit unworldly. From an early age on she is looking for Mr Right. First, she thinks she found the right man in Anothony Kroesig, a dull Tory and a bit of an arse, with whom she is married for nine years and has a child. She then marries Christian Talbot, a Communist, but he also turns out not to be Mr Right. Eventually she meets Fabrice; Mr Right. Though they do not get married, she gets pregnant. Linda and Fabrice die around the same time, she in childbirth and he in an execution, for he played a major role in the resistance against the Germans.
Lord Merlin: Lord Merlin is Alconleighs eccentric neighbour who collects art and likes Dadaism. He’s in all manners a very modern and experimental person. He and Linda become good friends, and he helps her out from time to time or gives his commentary on the things she does. There isn’t much known about him, apart from his supportive role for Linda.
Explanation of the title
The title “The pursuit of love” refers to Linda’s search for true love.
Genre
(War) novel; partly autobiographic.
“The pursuit of love” takes place in the Interbellum, the interwar period from 1918 – 1939, and the first part of the Second World War. The locations of action are England and France (mostly Paris and Perpignan).
Style
Nancy Mitford has a simple, easy accessible style of writing. She is neither critic nor cynic, is funny and has a timeless way of writing. Even though the novel was first published in 1945 it doesn’t seem old. Because of her ‘pure’ language the text remains ‘fresh’ upon this day.
Structure and perspective
The story has one narrator: Fanny. At first, she tells about her own memories, that she tells what Linda told her about her time in France and eventually she returns to her own memories.
The entire story is in chronological order, starting at the girls youth, followed by everything that led up to Linda’s death and the novels present.
Themes and motives
The central theme in this book is the pursuit of true love. This theme is seen mostly in Linda’s part of the story, but also in Jassy’s and Fanny’s stories. For instance: Jassy runs away to marry somebody she only met once, and quite briefly. Fanny is also looking for Mr Right, but a lot less impulsive than Jassy and Linda.
Author
Nancy Mitford (1904 - 1973) was an English writer and columnist. She grew up in a family with 6 children, all of them girls. Nancy and her sisters received home-education and had a strong bond. Mitfords books are partly autobiographical. For example, in “The Pursuit of Love” we see Linda, with whom Nancy shared a lot of characteristics, such as problems with taking stuff seriously.
Nancy Mitford published 8 novels, translations of French novels, journalistic texts and biographies of Louis XIV of France, Voltaire and Madame de Pompadour among others.
My opinion
“The Pursuit of Love” was an easy, quick to read book. Though it’s quite interesting to read something about life in England at the beginning of the 20th century and the story has some unexpected turns, the book has a certain lightness about it. Even though important, big themes as death while giving childbirth, love and ware are mentioned, Mitford handles it all a little casual.
Apart from that, the book is very well written. Mitford does manage to make a fictional persons love life interesting for over 250 pages by letting another character tell her story.
Read here the Dutch version of this book report.
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