Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Wigs on the Green

Browsing at the bookstore a while ago, I spotted a very pretty cover on an edition of Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate :

I already own a copy of this book and was wishing that I had a reason to purchase this one too when, lo and behold, at the other end of the display table, I spotted another, equally well-covered book by Nancy Mitford that I hadn't heard of before, Wigs on the Green.

Set among a group of young men and women in the English countryside, it satirizes the various British political views of the time period- just prior to WWII, as Hitler is rising to power in Germany. Apparently Mitford pulled it out of print for a long time once the war hit out of sensitivity to the circumstances. Aside from a few jokes related to Hitler that are still a little uncomfortable to read, I found it to be quite a funny novel. The plot is too convoluted to even attempt to explain, but there are lots of madcap characters and cases of mistaken identity, and on a few occasions I had a hard time stifling laughter while reading in public.

Now I have my eye on two more Mitford titles that I want to get, Don't Tel Alfred and The Blessing, partly so that I can read the stories and partly so that I can have a whole collection of books with these great, vintage-y covers.


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