A seventeenth century French novel tells the story of the Duc de Nemours, who fell in love with the beautiful wife of his friend, the Prince of Cleves

In Highland Fling—Nancy Mitford’s first novel, published in 1931—a set of completely incompatible and hilariously eccentric characters collide in a Scottish castle, where bright young things play pranks on their stodgy elders until the frothy plot climaxes in ghost sightings and a dramatic fire. Inspired in part by Mitford’s youthful infatuation with a Scottish aristocrat, her story follows young Jane Dacre to a shooting party at Dulloch Castle, where she tramps around a damp and chilly moor on a hunting expedition with formidable Lady Prague, xenophobic General Murgatroyd, one-eyed Admiral Wenceslaus, and an assortment of other ancient and gouty peers of the realm, while falling in love with Albert, a surrealist painter with a mischievous sense of humor. Lighthearted and sparkling with witty banter, Highland Fling was Mitford’s first foray into the delightful fictional world for which the author of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate later became so celebrated.With an Introduction by Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey.

In this biography of Frederick the Great, Nancy Mitford carefully unravels the complex character of one of Europe's brilliant rulers. She re-creates his unhappy youth; his reforming zeal, which paved the way for a united Germany; and his spectacular wars.

Product Description: Satirizing the devoted followers of British fascism, this novel tells the story of a series of characters hailing from diverse backgrounds, and what happens when they meet in an out-of-the-way little British town. Sheltered Eugenia Malmains, one of the richest girls in England, is a loyal supporter of General Jack and his Union Jackshirts...read more

Recounts the love affair between Voltaire, the eighteenth-century writer and philosopher, and the Marquise du Chatelet and describes life and customs of the times

Details the life of the king, courtiers, and government officials in France in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, focusing on the Court of Versailles. (view table of contents)

Product Description: The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford, with an introduction by India Knight. In print together for the first time in many years, and here in one volume, are all eight of Nancy Mitford's sparklingly astute, hilarious and completely unputdownable novels, with a new introduction by India Knight...read more

Grace is lovely but not really up to the Parisian haute monde into which her marriage plunges her. Charles is very French, very much in love with Grace, and unwilling to give up his mistress. And both are the credulous victims of their son Sigismund, a juvenile Machiavelli of the first order.

Product Description: Mitford’s most enduringly popular novel, The Pursuit of Love is a classic comedy about growing up and falling in love among the privileged and eccentric.Mitford modeled her characters on her own famously unconventional family. We are introduced to the Radletts through the eyes of their cousin Fanny, who stays with them at Alconleigh, their Gloucestershire estate...read more

Don't Tell Alfred is the wickedly funny sequel to Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. 'I believe it would have been normal for me to have paid a visit to the outgoing ambassadress. However the said ambassadress had set up such an uninhibited wail when she knew she was to leave, proclaiming her misery to all and sundry and refusing so furiously to look on the bright side, that it was felt she might not be very nice to me.' Fanny is married to absent-minded Oxford don Alfred and content with her role as a plain, tweedy housewife. But overnight her life changes when Alfred is appointed English Ambassador to Paris. In the blink of an eye, Fanny's mixing with royalty, Rothschilds and Dior-clad wives, throwing cocktail parties and having every indiscreet remark printed in tomorrow's papers. But with the love lives of her new friends to organize, an aristocratic squatter who won't budge and the antics of her maverick sons to thwart, Fanny's far too busy to worry about the diplomatic crisis looming on the horizon. . . Don't Tell Alfred continues the histories of the characters Nancy Mitford introduced in The Pursuit of Love. 'A comic genius' Independent on Sunday 'Deliciously funny' Evelyn Waugh Nancy Mitford was the eldest of the infamous Mitford sisters, known for her membership in 'The Bright Young Things' clique of the 1920s and an intimate of Evelyn Waugh; she produced witty, satirical novels with a cast of characters taken directly from the aristocratic social scene of which she was a part. Her novels, Wigs on the Green, The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate and The Blessing, are available in single paperback editions from Penguin or as part of The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford which also includes Highland Fling, Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie. This edition of Don't Tell Alfred is introduced by author and columnist Sophie Dahl.

Product Description: Few aristocratic English families of the twentieth century enjoyed the glamorous notoriety of the infamous Mitford sisters. Nancy Mitford's most famous novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, satirize British aristocracy in the twenties and thirties through the amorous adventures of the Radletts, an exuberantly unconventional family closely modelled on Mitford's own...read more

Product Description: In her most successful novel, Nancy Mitford uses real-life elements from her extravagant and famous family in order to weave her story. We become acquainted with the different members of the Radlett family: the ill-tempered father Uncle Matthew, the absent and devout mother Sadie, and the seven children who, along with their cousin Fanny, make up a bizarre and entertaining family...read more

When the highly imaginative Lady Sophia Garfield discovers some very real German spies in her home, no one believes her, so she sets out alone to gain proof and, in the process, save Britain

Portrays the search for romance, adventure, and excitement of a young woman in England between the wars

Two of the twentieth century's most gifted writers exchange insults and match wits in an irreverent dialogue about themselves and the literary and social circles of London and Paris at midcentury, in a colorful and evocative collection of correspondence. (view table of contents)

In a collection of fiction, essays, poetry, journal entries, and letters, authors including Colette, Gertrude Jekyll, Nancy Mitford, Edith Warton, and Andrew Marvel reflect on the wonders of gardening, from the joys of weeding and the pitfalls of roses to the trials of gardening in a cold climate.

The snobbery and false values of the English country nobility are satirized in these two love stories involving the well-established Radlett and Hampton families

From the best-selling author of The Pursuit of Love and The Sun King comes a collection of her witty letters to Evelyn Waugh, Harold Acton, Christopher Sykes, Robert Byron, and other notable correspondents. 15,000 first printing.

A collection of essays, articles, and reviews, written for 'Vogue,' 'Atlantic Monthly,' 'The New York Times,' and other publications, reflects the author's full range of interests and concerns

Takes a humorous look at class distinctions in language in Great Britain, and includes discussions of snobbery, manners, and customs