To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The book then follows all of the family – but primarily Linda on her pursuit of love, taking in London and Paris as well as Norfolk.

There is an eclectic supporting cast who are excellently described – Davey and his gut health being very informative!For a reader unfamiliar with Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love, India Knight’s reimagining would be a perfect comfort read: the kind of book you take into the bath and keep reading even when the water has gone cold, a one-sitting dark-at-four joy. In her journalism Knight has written often about the importance of cosiness, and here she has the perfect cosy autumn read. Her first venture into literature was 2000’s My Life on a Plate, charting a woman’s complicated family life which was more or less a fictionalised account of her own story. Somehow, India Knight's writing manages to be hilarious, melancholy, insightful, and romantic all at the same time. Darling is also in that vein, that serves a heightened sense of reality in a decidedly upper-middle-class world, where worries are real but they are less where the money for the mortgage is going to come from and more will they be able to afford a junior suite at the Ritz in Paris, or will it have to be a mere double room.

The last few years have seen the 2021 BBC adaptation of Mitford’s 1945 novel The Pursuit of Love, starring Lily James, and the “Mitford Murders” series by Jessica Fellowes. I expect that most people who read it will know that this is a contemporary retelling of Nancy Mitford’s wonderful The Pursuit of Love. You need to know and love Nancy Mitford's "The Pursuit of Love" to really appreciate this very clever updating of the novel for the 2020s. If the Radletts of the 21st century are perhaps a little less extraordinary than the Radletts of the 20th, they still leap off the page with warmth and chaos.The daughter of a former rock ‘n roll hell-raiser and the mellow woman who tamed him, Linda grew up in blissful seclusion from the wider world in a sprawling estate in the Surrey countryside alongside her rabble of siblings and favourite cousin, Fran.

A Audible é um serviço de entretenimento em áudio que oferece aos assinantes acesso ilimitado a mais de 100 mil audiolivros, além da possibilidade de adquirir um catálogo adicional de mais de 300 mil títulos de audiolivros com desconto. As the hours count down to their wedding, Piglet is torn between a growing appetite and the desire to follow the recipe, follow the rules. The characters are all completely recognisable even when they’ve actually been changed - Jassy, for example, is perfect as a modern version of the original. I laughed out loud throughout, and thought that the characters were so impeccably described that I feel as though I know them. This is the difficult question when considering a retelling of a book that feels as fresh and alive as Mitford’s 1945 classic.Together, Kit and Piglet are the picture of domestic bliss - effortless hosts, planning a covetable wedding . Of course, she is beautiful, with an innate sense of style; every girl wants to be her, every guy wants to be with her. This is a Mitford retelling, so the British class obsession features prominently, mainly in the form of working-class Uncle Matthew’s complicated loathing of “poshos”. OK – so I need to hold my hands up first and say I’ve never read ‘The Pursuit of Love’ by Nancy Mitford – so whilst this is a retelling – it was a brand new story / set of characters for me – but as a fan of India Knight’s writing I requested an ARC from NetGalley. Other authors have come along in my reading journey that have been right up my street - Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are my all time go-to for comfort reading and never fail to raise a wry smile.

So glad I bought this on a whim (read: based on the beautiful cover) when visiting John Sandoe Books in Chelsea!In the author’s reimagining, Linda and her siblings grow up as “utter freaks” on the sprawling Alconleigh farm in north Norfolk. By making Mr Radlett a working-class rock star rather than moneyed aristocrat, Knight gives herself the opportunity to rib the upper classes through his frequently irate, defiantly egotistical lens. All the old faces are there, ripe to take on the modern world; Franny’s mother The Bolter fits surprisingly well into the 21 st century, as does Lord Merlin, who is now an avant-garde fashion designer, and who was before his time in the original in any case.