Nancy Mitford

Nancy Mitford

Nancy Mitford (1904-1973) was the eldest of the "Mitford girls," the sisters who captured the attention of the English public and press with their literary talents and unpopular politics. Nancy Mitford herself was famous for her novels (The Pursuit of Love, The Blessing, and Don't Tell Alfred), for her forays into social science (a critical study of the English aristocracy), and for her biographies of famous figures from French history (Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire in Love, and The Sun King).

From the Review

February 25, 1971: The Soldier in Her

Memoirs of Madame de La Tour du Pin translated by Felice Harcourt, with an Introduction by Peter Gay

April 28, 1966: All For Love

The Uncompromising Heart: A Life of Marie Mancini by Françoise Mallet-Joris, translated by Patrick O'Brien

February 6, 1964: Belle Lettriste

Madame de Sevigne by Harriet Ray Allentuch

From New York Review Books

Madame de Pompadour Nancy Mitford's delightfully candid biography re-creates the spirit of eighteenth-century Versailles with its love of pleasure and treachery.