Life in a Cold Climate

Overview

A much-praised biography of the most brilliant of the Mitford sisters, who dazzled and scandalized interwar high society with their wit and sometimes controversial lifestyles Nancy Mitford was, in the words of her sister Lady Diana Mosley, "very, very complex." Her biographies and novels, her journalism, and the vast body of letters to her family, friends such as Evelyn Waugh, and to the great love of her life, Gaston Palewski, all tell an intriguing story. Drawing from these, as well as conversations with Mitford's two surviving sisters and colleagues, prize-winning author Laura Thompson has fashioned a portrait of a contradictory and courageous woman. Thompson approaches her subject with wit, perspicacity, and affection, while eschewing clichés about the eccentricities of the Mitford clan. This book is full of the sound of Mitfordian laughter; but tells also the often paradoxical and complex story beneath the smiling and ever elegant façade.

Author Biography

Laura Thompson is the author of the Somerset Maugham Award-winning The Dogs: A Personal History of Greyhound Racing, Agatha Christie: An English Mystery, A Different Class of Murder: The Story of Lord Lucan and Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters.