The Pursuit of Love: Why are we still so obsessed with the Mitford sisters?
Jessie Thompson
Is there any greater example of the Problematic Fave than the Mitford sisters? They were posh, gossipy, fabulous, stylish and politically extreme. Were a couple of them – let’s just say it – outrageously right-wing? Yes. But are we still – myself included – completely fascinated by them? Very much yes. I don’t know how I’d have got through the darkest moments of winter lockdown without devouring a doorstop 500-page biography of them.
Next week, a gorgeous-looking adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s best and most-loved novel, The Pursuit of Love, will finally air on BBC One – and it’s only bound to renew interest in the sisters. Nothing seems less important right now than the private lives of the landed gentry. And yet, to use their parlance, do admit: the allure prevails.