Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

Like other books I have reviewed here, Love in a Cold Climate is a story told through a narrator whose life is peripheral to the narrative and whose character is decent, kind and somewhat dull. Fanny is the conduit through which the story of Polly and her wealthy and eccentric family is told.

Polly is distantly related to the narrator and is the daughter of an aristocrat Lord Montdore, and Lady Montdore, who is a well respected and somewhat feared (and secretly hated by many) socialite of the highest standing. Polly has everything going for her—good breeding, fabulous wealth, and exquisite beauty. Lady Montdore has high hopes for her marriage, but Polly is not interested. After returning to England after years in India, Polly is now a young adult and her mother is keen to see her married. Polly, however, despite her beauty, is cold and uninterested in the social scene. Her cold attitude attracts no suitors and Lady Montdore becomes exasperated as Polly’s less-than-beautiful contemporaries are married off one after the other.

The love life of Lady Montdore herself is rather scandalous, but I don’t want to give too much away in this review.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Pursuit of Love, also by Nancy Mitford and also narrated by Fanny, which I read about a year ago, and I loved this book too. Mitford writes with a great sense of humour. I also get the feeling that she really loves her characters. Most of them have terrible flaws, but at the same time are lovable. (Uncle) Matthew Radcliffe, for example, is a bit of an ogre really—his fits of rage, hatred for foreigners and anti-social character make for quite a nasty fellow. Yet, he also cries at the drop of a hat and adores his family, and is therefore endearing. He is also homophobic, and this comes to the fore when Polly’s cousin comes to stay and ends up staying for good. Cedric’s flamboyance, love of fashion and all things beautiful, and the reactions of some of those around him are depicted with hilarity:

There was a terrible scene on Oxford platform one day. Cedric went to the bookstall to buy Vogue, having mislaid his own copy. Uncle Matthew, who was waiting there for a train, happened to notice that the seams of his coat were piped in a contrasting shade. This was too much for his self-control. He fell upon Cedric and began to shake him like a rat; just then, very fortunately, the train came in, whereupon my uncle, who suffered terribly from train fever, dropped Cedric and rushed to catch it. ‘You’d never think,’ as Cedric said afterwards, ‘that buying Vogue Magazine could be so dangerous. It was well worth it though, lovely Spring modes.’

Cedric, the extremely camp homosexual relative who comes to live with the Montdore’s after Polly has flown the nest injects some much-needed vibrancy and fun into Lady Montdore’s life. Cedric’s popularity with everyone in the story, especially the female characters made me think of the contemporary notion that having a gay guy as your best friend is really cool. Cedric was interested in fashion and beauty and gained a reputation as being good at giving women advice on how to improve their appearance. The ‘queer eye for the straight guy (or girl)’ phenomenon then is not that new!

This book pokes fun at the élite without being mean. It allows them all their happiness in the end. They are all able to find love, even if it’s eccentric and unorthodox. And it is! The end had me smiling and shaking my head in a ‘how delicious!’ kind of way.

The link to the penguin classics site for this book is here.