Darling: A razor-sharp, gloriously funny retelling of Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love

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Darling is wrapped around Nancy Mitford’s, ‘Pursuit of Love’ and India Knight could not have captured the heart of the story any better than she has in this beautiful piece of literature. As well as Mitford, there is something of Elizabeth Jane Howard’s much-adored Cazalet Chronicles in here, plus elements of Eva Rice’s The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets and Barbara Trapido’s Brother of the More Famous Jack. In the author’s reimagining, Linda and her siblings grow up as “utter freaks” on the sprawling Alconleigh farm in north Norfolk. Franny, the narrator, is even less inconsequential than in the original; but Knight has so, so much fun with Uncle Matthew, Davey and Jassy, who were always the best characters anyway.

What an extra treat to have read it right after having read the original Mitford‘s one, all the details India Knight wove in shone even brighter. This book had an interesting storytelling style, where the character at the central of the story (Linda) wasn’t the main narrator (Franny). But there’s no getting round it: being separated from your lover because they must open a new hotel in New Zealand is fundamentally less sexy than them leaving to fight the Nazis as a French resistance hero.I have done ever since I picked up a copy of Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison when I was 13 and would spend hours laughing over every sentence. Darling belongs in the pantheon of books that feel a bit like opening up a doll’s house to show the impeccable precision of the world within.

I haven’t read the original upon which it’s based - The Pursuit of Love - but will hunt down a copy to compare.So fresh, fun and full of heart, charm and whimsy - and that devastating ending comes all the more sharply because the reader has been having such a good time with the Radletts (extra points for including a reference to Cromer! The original novel centres on the life and loves of the beautiful Linda Radlett and her unconventional upbringing with her siblings and cousin Fanny (the book’s narrator) in the Cotswolds manor of Alconleigh. Log in Keep reading with a freetrial Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. The fact that it is a modern adaptation has been done so well, it has avoided being a superficial reading of The Pursuit of Love so well. Darling is a witty, homely and comforting novel all orbiting the life of Linda Radlett and her pursuit to find love wherever she can.