Book description
Wigs on the Green
by Nancy Mitford is a hilarious satire of the upper classes.
Eugenia Malmains is one of the richest girls in England and an
ardent supporter of Captain Jack and the Union Jackshirts; Noel and
Jasper are both in search of an heiress (so much easier than trying to
work for the money); Poppy and Marjorie are nursing lovelorn hearts;
and the beautiful bourgeois Mrs Lace is on the prowl for someone near
Eugenia's fabulous country home at Chalford, and much farce ensues.
One of Nancy Mitford's earliest novels, Wigs on the Green has
been out of print for nearly seventy-five years. Nancy's sisters Unity
and Diana were furious with her for making fun of Diana's husband,
Oswald Moseley, and his politics, and the book caused a rift between
them all that endured for years. Nancy Mitford skewers her family and
their beliefs with her customary jewelled barbs, but there is froth,
comedy and heart here too.
'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, The Pursuit of Love,
Love in a Cold Climate, The Blessing and Don't Tell
Alfred, 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 Wigs on the Green is
introduced by journalist and editor Charlotte Mosley.
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.
Charlotte Mosley lives in Paris and has worked as a publisher and
journalist. She is the editor of Love From Nancy: The Letters of
Nancy Mitford, The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn
Waugh, The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters and In
Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor.
