i've just discovered nancy mitford.....

[stainesmassif]

and i love her. can anyone recommend similar writing? my appetite has been whetted...

i don't mean significance, i mean another, equally long and impressive word, but i am watcing friends anf got distracted by joeys smell the fart technique

Same era, not quite so witty but possibly more erudite and utterly brilliant is D L Sayers.

Im not that keen on the Mitfords, they are so smug and up themselves, and they appear to despise the bourgoisie.

Ooh I envy you having all the Mitford books to discover! Lots of great suggestions already - do check out that Persephone Books link - 'The Making of A Marchioness' by Frances Hodgson Burnett (published by Persephone) is featured in 'The Pursuit of Love' and 'The Blessing'.

I also confess to having a Mitford Obsession.

I like the Carson sisters also.
And then what's to stop you looking up that old Bulldog, Churchill etc?

Tally Ho!

Another Mitford obsessive here with another vote for the letters.

Agree with Brideshead, Hons and Rebels, and also the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard. Dance To The Music Of Time is v.g. but Very Long. Recently read a collection of Jessica's letters, which I think was called Decca.

I have to admit I can't stand Debo, or the sycophantic interviews with her that appear in the Telegraph and Sunday Times and regular intervals. I also disliked the Mitford Girls for her blatant favouritism towards Debo and Diana. Still an interesting read though.

Will def check out DL Sayers, in fact I think I have a book of hers that I bought in a charity shop for a rainy day.

Me too! Apart from the obvious suggested on here and by Amazon... um Evelyn Waugh seems an obvious one - not just Brideshead, Aldous Huxley, EM Forster....just finished "Maurice". The Bolter?

That is interesting about the bolters and domestic violence, dittany. I can well believe you are right. I'd imagine the upper classes would have been pretty short on sympathy for that sort of thing.

What a great thread. I like Nancy Mitford's writing, so I'll just quickly bookmark it for Christmas presents to myself.

I didn't quite get on with The Diary of a Country Woman. I persisted with it but got bored after a while. E Waugh, esp. Brideshead, fantastic. DH is obsessed with it.

I just discovered there was another Mitford sister recently, whom I'd never heard of before. CAn't remember her name, maybe Pamela?

Every time you think you know them all, another one pops up. It's a bit like the Jacksons.

Yes, she was called Pam. She was very horsey, quietly gay, and had a sky blue Aga, iirc.

I was obsessed with the Mitfords for years, then suddenly dropped them. Agree that Jessica was the best by far.

And E.F Benson's Mapp and Lucia books are the closest bet if you want to read things similar.

ShonaSpurtle - somebody else who's read Lord Berners

I remembered the bit about 'bughunters' at his prep school the other day and it made me giggle.

Same as PeggyGuggenheim. Suddenly got v irritated with them all. Did like Hons and Rebels though, might re-read it.

Another vote here for E.F. Benson (Mapp & Lucia series) and Monica Dickens. Like Nancy M, both have an easy, humourous, light way of writing that's just 'utter bliss', as one of the Radletts might say, and completely engrossing.

Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy far better than Brideshead. DH used to dote on Brideshead (memories of days at Oxford), then grew up and thought it was tosh.

I don't know what's in print now but while not quite like the Mitfords, Virago Modern Classics published lots of novels from the same period, many very witty - my favourites are M J Farrell aka Molly Keane and Barbara Comyns.

Have you tried The Bolter by Frances Osborne (wife of George Osborne (who is incidentally part of the Osborne & Little Dynasty).

The Bolter is referred to in the Nancy Mitford books and is a true story of her life. Frances Osborne is her great grandaughter if I remember rightly. How incestous!

Kitchens - I like the sound of The Bolter. In fact, all suggestions are great. Now I just need the time to get through them.

The Bolter was Fanny's mother in The Pursuit of Love et al.

Who was she based on then? (Not Nancy M's mother, who was a pillar of rectitude!)

The Bolter arrived this morning. Am salivating over it whilst I should be doing housework.

What would The Bolter do?

The Bolter would certainly NOT do the housework.

that procrastinating was first to respond!