Book description
The Blessing
by Nancy Mitford with an introduction by Alex Kapranos.
It isn't just Nanny who finds it difficult in France when Grace and
her young son Sigi are finally able to join her dashing aristocratic
husband Charles-Edouard after the war. For Grace is out of her depth
among the fashionably dressed and immaculately coiffured French women,
and shocked by their relentless gossiping and bedhopping. When she
discovers her husband's tendency to lust after every pretty girl he
sees, it looks like trouble. And things get even more complicated when
little Sigi steps in . . .
The Blessing is a hilarious tale of love, fidelity, and the
English abroad, tailored as brilliantly as a New Look Dior suit.
'Entirely original, inimitable and irresistible' Spectator
'Deliciously funny' Evelyn Waugh
'Utter, utter bliss' Daily Mail
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,The Blessing and Don't Tell
Alfred, are available in single paperback editions from Penguin or
as part ofThe Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford which
also includes Highland Fling, Christmas Pudding and
Pigeon Pie. This edition of The Blessing features a
new introduction by Alex Kapranos.
Nancy Mitford (1904-1973) was born in London, the eldest child of
the second Baron Redesdale. Her childhood in a large remote country
house with her five sisters and one brother is recounted in the early
chapters of The Pursuit of Love (1945), which according to the
author, is largely autobiographical. Apart from being taught to ride
and speak French, Nancy Mitford always claimed she never received a
proper education. She started writing before her marriage in 1932 in
order 'to relieve the boredom of the intervals between the recreations
established by the social conventions of her world' and had written
four novels, including Wigs on the Green (1935), before the
success of The Pursuit of Love in 1945. After the war she moved
to Paris where she lived for the rest of her life. She followed The
Pursuit of Love with Love in a Cold Climate (1949),
The Blessing (1951) and Don't Tell Alfred (1960). She
also wrote four works of biography: Madame de Pompadour, first
published to great acclaim in 1954, Voltaire in Love, The
Sun King and Frederick the Great. As well as being a
novelist and a biographer she also translated Madame de Lafayette's
classic novel, La Princesse de Cl ves, into English, and edited
Noblesse Oblige, a collection of essays concerned with the
behaviour of the English aristocracy and the idea of 'U' and 'non-U'.
Nancy Mitford was awarded the CBE in 1972.
Alex Kapranos is a singer and guitarist with the band, Franz
Ferdinand. His first book, Sound Bites, was published by
Penguin in 2006.
