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A deep and reverential biography which glides through the quiet life of one of the great writers of the 20th century by the New York Times bestselling author. Nancy Mitford was, in the words of her sister Lady Diana Mosley, 'very complex.' Her highly autobiographical early work, the biographies and novels of her more mature French period, her journalism, and the vast body of letters to her family, to friends such as Evelyn Waugh, and to the great love of her life Gaston Palewski, all tell an intriguing story of this enigmatic woman. Not only drawing from these but also conversations with Nancy Mitford's two surviving sisters, acquaintances and colleagues, biographer Thompson has fashioned a portrait of a contradictory and courageous woman and tells the often paradoxical and complex story beneath the smiling and ever-elegant façade. Drawing on Mitford's own poignant childhood memories from her exuberant novel 'The Pursuit of Love', Thompson vividly evokes the swarm of brilliant and beautiful sisters, and their lone brother, growing up carefree in a succession of country houses in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. There is clearly a deep understanding about the Mitford family dynamics whether it is the estrangement from her parents, conflicts with her sisters, or damaging romantic relationships and the themes Mitford wrote about - fascism, the Nazis, sexual orientation, adulthood and beliefs. 417pp, the index reads like a who's who of major literary and political figures. 16 photos, family tree.