Nancy Mitford

Stella Tillyard

the-sun-king

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more

source_10558

By signing up, I confirm that I'm over 16. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our <a href="/company/about-us/notices/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a>

Keep an eye out for a confirmation in your inbox

Stories, ideas and giveaways to help you spark young imaginations

source_10972

The latest books, activities and tips to help you grow little readers

source_10975

About us

About Us (Header 4)

john-le-carre-a-legacy-of-spies-960-2.jpg

Margaret Atwood

Richard Osman

Malorie Blackman

George Orwell

marian_keyes_mobile_320x200px.png

Elif Shafak

shonfaye

Authors (Header 3)

Books (Header 2)

Company

Features (Header 1)

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Abridged Edition

Penguin Readers Level 5: The Pursuit of Love (ELT Graded Reader)

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast drama collection

Nancy Mitford: Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate & More

The finest editions available of the world's greatest classics from Homer to Achebe, Tolstoy to Ishiguro, Proust to Pullman, printed on a fine acid-free, cream-wove paper that will not discolour with age, with sewn, full cloth bindings and silk ribbon markers, and at remarkably low prices. All books include substantial introductions by major scholars and contemporary writers, and comparative chronologies of literary and historical context.

Love in a Cold Climate & The Pursuit of Love

Highland Fling

Pigeon Pie

Now a major series on BBC and Prime Video directed by Emily Mortimer and starring Lily James and Andrew Scott

The Pursuit of Love

<a href="https://shop.penguin.co.uk/collections/book-bundles-modern-classics/?&amp;utm_source=Penguin.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=Linked_text&amp;utm_campaign=Penguin_Modern_Classics_Series_26_06">Choose 3 timeless classics for only £21 over on the Penguin Shop</a>

With Love in a Cold Climate and The Blessing

The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh

Christmas Pudding

The wickedly funny sequel to The Pursuit of Love

Love in a Cold Climate

The Blessing

Don't Tell Alfred

The Complete Novels

Wigs on the Green

The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford

Madame de Pompadour

Voltaire in Love

Frederick the Great

The Sun King

Delightfully gossipy...irreverently lifts the skirts of the dolls of Versailles and rummages about underneath, exposing one gem of irresistible detail after another...A glorious tribute to a glorious age

La Mitford plonks the reader amid the seething snobbery and maniacal struggle for High Life that was the Sun King's regime... brilliantly acerbic

Her style is skilfully succinct; and her wit proceeds from uncommon shrewdness...readers will wish her her book were twice as long

Highly entertaining...written with her accustomed dash and gaiety, in a manner which frequently suggests one of her delightful novels... Because Miss Mitford is so at home in Versailles, she confers the same feeling of being at home upon a sympathetic modern reader

Gossipy account of the art, affairs and poison paranoia at Louis XIV's Versailles.

This gossipy account of Louis XIV is a clear and fascinating historical biography from Nancy Mitford. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY STELLA TILLYARD 
 
During his reign Louis XIV was the most powerful king in Europe. He presided over a golden age of military and artistic achievement in France, and deployed his charm and talents for spin and intrigue to hold his court and country within his absolute control. The Sun King's universe centred on Versailles, a glittering palace from where Louis conducted his government and complex love affairs. Nancy Mitford describes the daily life of this splendid court in sumptuous detail, recreating the past in vivid colour.

'Gossipy account of the art, affairs and poison paranoia at Louis XIV's Versailles' The Times

Nancy Mitford was born in London on November 28 1904, daughter of the second Baron Redesdale, and the eldest of six girls. Her sisters included Lady Diana Mosley; Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire and Jessica, who immortalised the Mitford family in her autobiography Hons and Rebels. The Mitford sisters came of age during the Roaring Twenties and wartime in London, and were well known for their beauty, upper-class bohemianism or political allegiances. Nancy contributed columns to The Lady and the Sunday Times, as well as writing a series of popular novels including The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, which detailed the high-society affairs of the six Radlett sisters. While working in London during the Blitz, Nancy met and fell in love with Gaston Palewski, General de Gaulle's chief of staff, and eventually moved to Paris to be near him. In the 1950s she began writing historical biographies - her life of Louis XIV, The Sun King, became an international bestseller. Nancy completed her last book, Frederick the Great, before she died of Hodgkin's disease on 30 June 1973.

The Sun King

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

Reviews

About the author

Nancy Mitford

More from this Author

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter