Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

I had a difficult time starting this book and a difficult time with many of the things that happen in it, but overall, I enjoyed it hugely. It's stuffed full with the most hilarious anecdotes about the upper classes and their snobbery, yet never leaves the world that it mocks. It has a lively, sparkling atmosphere, and engaging (but not necessarily likeable) characters. Its comedy is fringed with tragedy (death of spouses, death of babies, parents disinheriting their children) and very disturbing themes (pedophilia, murky affairs). At first, I struggled to keep track of all the characters and their titles and relationships to one another, especially since this book is preceded by The Pursuit of Love, which I haven't read, but eventually I got the hang of it. My favourite parts were probably the ridiculous things that characters get up to on the fringes of the story, such as Uncle Davey and his endless quest for health in a series of absurd cures, the Radlett children who know a little too much about sex and try to psychoanalyse everyone in their house, declaring their father hopelessly stupid (which he is), and the horrible Lady Montdore, who is phenomenal in her selfishness. But the crown jewel is certainly Cedric Hampton, flamboyantly gay and utterly charming, who wins the affections of the entire cast of characters, and eventually makes off with the husband of one of the central characters. I really enjoyed the style and tone of the book, and one of the most interesting things about it is that it is narrated in the first person by Fanny Wincham, who during the course of the book gets married, sets up her own house, and has a child, all of which happens completely incidentally. Fanny mentions her own life (falling in love, getting married, having a child, etc) only as a sort of inconvenience in her narration of the story of other people, which I found both funny and odd. Never has falling in love mattered less. She seems much more invested in other peoples' lives and her own life is idly observed, as if by someone with no vested interest in it. It's as though gossip, and things other people do, becomes everything, and her own life nothing. I don't know if I liked any of the characters, but I enjoyed them all enormously.