Nancy Mitford (1904–1973) was an English novelist, biographer and journalist. She was the eldest of the renowned Mitford sisters and one of the "Bright Young People" of London's inter-war years. Although mainly remembered for her witty accounts of upper-class life, she also established a reputation as a writer of popular historical biographies. The eldest daughter of the 2nd Baron Redesdale, she published her first book in 1931, but it was her two semi-autobiographical postwar novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, that established her reputation. During the 1950s she was identified with the concept of "U" (upper) and "non-U" language as a determinant of social standing; she had intended this as a joke, but thereafter many considered Mitford an authority on manners and breeding. Her later years were bitter-sweet, the success of her biographical studies of Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire and King Louis XIV contrasting with the ultimate failure of her personal relationships. From the late 1960s her health deteriorated, and she endured several years of painful illness before her death in 1973. (Full article...)
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