Don't Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford

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Don't Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford

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Don't Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford


In this delightful comedy, Fanny--the quietly observant narrator of Nancy Mitford's two most famous novels--finally takes center stage.

Fanny Wincham--last seen as a young woman in The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate--has lived contentedly for years as housewife to an absent-minded Oxford don, Alfred. But her life changes overnight when her beloved Alfred is appointed English Ambassador to Paris. Soon she finds herself mixing with royalty and Rothschilds while battling her hysterical predecessor, Lady Leone, who refuses to leave the premises. When Fanny's tender-hearted secretary begins filling the embassy with rescued animals and her teenage sons run away from Eton and show up with a rock star in tow, things get entirely out of hand. Gleefully sending up the antics of mid-century high society, Don't Tell Alfred is classic Mitford.
Nancy Mitford (1904-1973) was born into the British aristocracy and, by her own account, brought up without an education, except in riding and French. She managed a London bookshop during the Second World War, then moved to Paris, where she began to write her celebrated and successful novels, among them The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, about the foibles of the English upper class. Mitford was also the author of four biographies: Madame de Pompadour (1954), Voltaire in Love (1957), The Sun King (1966), and Frederick the Great (1970)--all available as NYRB classics. In 1967 Mitford moved from Paris to Versailles, where she lived until her death from Hodgkin's disease.
Liesl Schillinger is a journalist, critic, and translator. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review and has written on literature, culture, theater, politics, and travel for many publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Daily Beast, and The Independent on Sunday. Among her translations are The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas (fils) and Every Day, Every Hour by Nataša Dragnić. Her illustrated book of neologisms, Wordbirds, will be published in October 2013.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780307740847
ISBN 10 0307740846
Title Don't Tell Alfred
Author Nancy Mitford
Series Radlett And Montdore
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Random House USA Inc
Year published 2010-08-10
Number of pages 240
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.