Audiobooks by Nancy Mitford

Nancy Mitford: Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate & More: A BBC Radio 4 full-cast drama collect

"BBC Radio adaptations of Nancy Mitford's most famous novels and acclaimed biography of Madame de Pompadour plus bonus programmes The eldest of the notorious Mitford sisters, Nancy Mitford was renowned for her comic novels of upper-class life. An aristocrat and socialite, she mingled with the 'Bright Young Things' in interwar London, and went on to satirise their foibles in razor-sharp, wickedly funny prose. Collected here are adaptations of her two bestsellers, the semi-autobiographical The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate; her delightful biography of Louis XV's chief mistress; and a pair of fascinating programmes exploring her own unconventional life. The Pursuit of Love This bittersweet tale follows the fortunes of Fanny Logan and her eccentric aristocratic cousins, the Radletts, as they embark on disastrous love affairs and misconceived marriages while searching for Mr Right. Cast Lord Radlett - Rolf Lefebvre Lady Radlett - Joan Matheson Fanny - Susan Maudslay Linda - Jane Knowles Matt - Brian Hewlett Captain Davey Warbeck - Godfrey Kenton Emily - Joan Hart Tony Kroesig - Michael Spice Lord Merlin - John Rye Bessie - Olwen Griffiths Mrs Fletcher - Barbara Mitchell The Bolter - Cecile Chevreau Other parts played by Sion Probert, George Raistrick, Alan Rowe and William Sleigh. Adapted by Alan Melville. Produced by Norman Wright. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 February 1974 Love in a Cold Climate A glamorous invitation to a grand party at Hampton - home of the fantastically rich Montdores and their beautiful daughter Polly - brings Fanny into the world of 1920s high society: and in and out of love when the temperature drops... Amanda Root stars in this sparkling sequel to The Pursuit of Love. Cast Fanny - Amanda Root Lady Montdore - Barbara Jefford Polly - Teresa Gallagher Veronica - Jenny Howe Uncle Davey - Jon Strickland Aunt Emily - Patience Tomlinson Aunt Sadie - Tessa Worsley Uncle Matthew - Ioan Meredith Boy Dougdale - Stephen Critchlow Jassy - Sarah-Jane Holm Victoria - Tilly Gaunt Cedric - William Hope Alfred - Tom Beard Dramatised by Claire Luckham. Directed by Marion Nancarrow. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 3 May 1999 The King's Favourite Based on Mitford's Madame de Pompadour, this three-part drama vividly evokes the colourful atmosphere of 18th Century Versailles, and Louis XV's tempestuous relationship with his adored mistress, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour. Cast Narrator - Alan Melville Duc d'Orléans - Patrick Tull Madame de Ventadour - Katherine Parr Infanta Maria of Spain - Elizabeth Proud Louis XV (as a youth) - Nigel Anthony Duc de Bourbon - James Thomason The Queen - Pauline Letts Louis XV - Edward de Souza Lebel, concierge - Robin Browne Marquise de la Ferté - Margot Boyd Monsieur Poisson - Harold Kasket Madame d'Etioles - Moira Lister Monsieur d'Etioles - John Gabriel Lasmartre, a huntsman - David Timson Lady of the Court - Olwen Griffiths Produced by Norman Wright. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10-24 December 1971 Dearest Evelyn, Darling Nancy Adapted from the witty correspondence of lifelong literary friends Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford, this entertaining, gossipy 'conversation in letters' stars Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Cast Evelyn Waugh - Timothy West Nancy Mitford - Prunella Scales Adapted by Alan Bell. Produced by Pete Atkin. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 December 1993 Greatest Lives - Nancy Mitford Grace Dent loves Nancy Mitford for her wit, and for the way in which she showed women that it was possible to live your life fully and unconventionally. Matthew Parris asks what it is about Nancy that so inspires Grace, with the aid of Mitford biographer Lisa Hilton. Produced by Beth O'Dea. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 22 January 2013 © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd"

Nancy Mitford (Author), Amanda Root, Edward De Souza, Elizabeth Proud, Full Cast, Jane Knowles, Pauline Letts, Prunella Scales, Teresa Gallagher, Timothy West (Narrator)

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[Spanish] - A la caza del amor

"En 'A la caza del amor', su novela de mayor éxito, Nancy Mitford utiliza elementos reales de su extravagante y famosa familia para construir el relato. La acción se abre en el salón de Alconleigh, la casa de campo de los Radlett. Ante nuestros ojos van desfilando los distintos miembros de la familia: el malhumorado padre, tío Matthew, con sus violentos y cómicos estallidos de cólera y sus curiosos pasatiempos, como organizar cacerías en las que las piezas son alguno de sus hijos…; la ausente y devota madre, Sadie; y los siete hijos que junto a su prima Fanny forman una estrafalaria y divertidísima familia. Pero realmente es la joven Linda Radlett y su permanente búsqueda del amor el auténtico centro de esta historia. A través de este audiolibro, la acompañaremos en su azarosa conquista y conoceremos a los distintos hombres en los que creyó encontrarlo. La narración despliega el famoso ingenio satírico y la extraordinaria capacidad de la autora para reconstruir el ambiente, la vida y las personas en los círculos aristocráticos ingleses de entreguerras. Un audiolibro inteligente y divertido, que, aunque pudiera gustar simplemente por lo que es: una novela vibrante y mordaz, es también un verdadero trozo de vida. Prólogo de José Carlos Llop."

José Carlos Llop, Nancy Mitford (Author), Irene Miras, Paco Gázquez (Narrator)

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Pigeon Pie

"Brought to you by Penguin. Set at the outbreak of World War II, Lady Sophia Garfield dreams of becoming a beautiful spy but manages not to notice a nest of German agents right under her nose. Until the murder of her maid and the kidnapping of her beloved bulldog force them on her attention, with heroic and absurd results. One of Mitford's earliest novels and written before Christmas 1939, Pigeon Pie is delivered with a touch lighter than that of her later masterpieces but no less entertaining. This comedy combines glamour, wit, and a fiendishly absurd plot into an irresistible literary confection. 'This sparking and deliciously acid commentary of the social world.' - The Scotsman © Nancy Mitford 1940 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Nancy Mitford (Author), Juliet Stevenson (Narrator)

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Highland Fling

"Brought to you by Penguin. Nancy Mitford's first novel, 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 humour. Light-hearted 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. 'A delightful comedy of manners' - The Times © Nancy Mitford 1931 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Nancy Mitford (Author), Katie Leung (Narrator)

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Wigs on the Green

"Brought to you by Penguin. 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 1935 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Nancy Mitford (Author), John Heffernan (Narrator)

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Love in a Cold Climate: The wickedly funny sequel to The Pursuit of Love

"Brought to you by Penguin. Love in a Cold Climate is the sequel to Nancy Mitford's bestselling novel The Pursuit of Love. 'How lovely - green velvet and silver. I call that a dream, so soft and delicious, too.' She rubbed a fold of the skirt against her cheek. 'Mine's silver lame, it smells like a bird cage when it gets hot but I do love it. Aren't you thankful evening skirts are long again?' Ah, the dresses! But oh, the monotony of the Season, with its endless run of glittering balls. Even fabulously fashionable Polly Hampton - with her startling good looks and excellent social connections - is beginning to wilt under the glare. Groomed for the perfect marriage by her mother, fearsome Lady Montdore, Polly instead scandalises society by declaring her love for her uncle 'Boy' Dougdale, the Lecherous Lecturer, and promptly eloping to France. But the consequences of this union no one could quite expect . . . Love in a Cold Climate is the wickedly funny follow-up to The Pursuit of Love. 'Entirely original, inimitable and irresistible' Philip Hensher, Spectator © Nancy Mitford 1949 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Nancy Mitford (Author), Zoe Telford (Narrator)

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The Pursuit of Love: Now a major series on BBC and Prime Video directed by Emily Mortimer and starri

"Brought to you by Penguin. One of the funniest, sharpest novels about love and growing up ever written, Nancy Mitford's classic is now major BBC and Prime Video series directed by Emily Mortimer and starring Lily James, Andrew Scott and Dominic West 'He was the great love of her life you know.' 'Oh, dulling,' said my mother, sadly, 'One always thinks that. Every, every time.' Oh, the tedium of waiting to grow up! Longing for love, obsessed with weddings and sex, Linda and her sisters and cousin Fanny are on the lookout for the perfect lover. But finding Mr Right is much harder than any of the sisters had thought. Linda must suffer marriage first to a stuffy Tory MP and then to a handsome and humourless communist, before finding real love in war-torn Paris . . . NANCY MITFORD'S WICKEDLY FUNNY SERIES CONTINUES IN LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE AND DON'T TELL ALFRED. 'Utter, utter bliss' Daily Mail 'A pleasure as intense as inheriting a perfect pearl necklace, or finding a silk dress in a vintage shop that fits like a glove' Caitlin Moran, Harper's Bazaar 'Peerless' Zoe Heller © Nancy Mitford 1945 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Nancy Mitford (Author), Bessie Carter (Narrator)

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The Blessing

"Brought to you by Penguin. 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 1951 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Nancy Mitford (Author), Kristin Atherton (Narrator)

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Don't Tell Alfred: The wickedly funny sequel to The Pursuit of Love

"Brought to you by Penguin. 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 1960 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Nancy Mitford (Author), Adjoa Andoh (Narrator)

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Christmas Pudding

"Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford, read by Kristin Atherton. The formidable fox-hunting obsessed Lady Bobbin has put together a Christmas house party at Compton Bobbin, including her rebellious daughter Philadelphia, the girl's pompous suitor, a couple of children obsessed with newspaper death notices, and an aspiring writer whose deadly (in more ways than one) serious first novel has been acclaimed as the funniest book of the year, to his utter dismay. And then there is beautiful ex courtesan Amabelle Fortescue and her group of guests staying in a nearby cottage ... As the house parties starts to unravel, so the jokes increase: this is Nancy Mitford's second novel and one of her earliest forays into the world of the Bright Young Things."

Nancy Mitford (Author), Kristin Atherton (Narrator)

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