Life in a Cold Climate by Laura Thompson
Drawing on Mitford's highly autobiographical early novels - as well as the biographies and novels of her more mature French period, her journalism and the vast body of letters to her sisters, lovers and friends such as Evelyn Waugh and Cyril Connolly - Thompson has put together a portrait of a courageous and contradictory woman: a woman who expressed anti-feminist views while living a life of financial and emotional independence; a woman who appeared quintessentially English but who was only wholly able to be herself once she moved to France; a woman who believed implacably that the best response to life's pain was laughter. Approaching her subject with wit, perspicacity and huge affection, Laura Thompson, like Mitford, makes her serious points lightly. Eschewing cliches about the eccentricities of the Mitford clan (although nonetheless delving into the forces which politically polarised this family of 'contagiously and competitive' girls) Thompson analyses the contradictions and complexities at the heart of Nancy Mitford's life and work.
'[Laura Thompson] writes like a dream' -- Nicholas Lezard 'A sparkling and deliciously readable biography' -- Mail on Sunday 20040418 'Nancy's life was a puzzling set of contradictions, which have been sensitively unravelled by Thompson's detailed research into the life and work of the English novelist.. Thompson, like Mitford, writes in a witty, humorous and touchingly personal manner' -- Daily Express 20040416 'Despite Thompson's passionate enthusiasm for Mitford, she offers a balanced and vivacious appraisal of a fascinating if mildly off-putting woman' -- Observer 20040425 'The force of her identification with her subject means that the books and the life's crises are inspected with unprecedented intensity and intelligence' -- Guardian 20040425 'A biography informed by so much love can't be carped at' -- Independent on Sunday 20040425
A writer and freelance journalist, Laura Thompson won the Somerset Maughan award for her first book, THE DOGS (Chatto, 1994). After leaving Oxford, where she studied English, she wrote and performed in a highly acclaimed one-woman show about the life and work of Jean Rhys.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780747245759 |
| ISBN 10 | 0747245754 |
| Title | Life in a Cold Climate |
| Author | Laura Thompson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Headline Publishing Group |
| Year published | 2004-04-05 |
| Number of pages | 448 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |