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Don't Tell Alfred Mitford Nancy Nancy Mitford 9780881845976 Books

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Don't Tell Alfred Mitford Nancy Nancy Mitford 9780881845976 Books

So Fanny muses to herself as she sips a sherry at the Ritz. She has been transformed from a school girl in the "hons closet", to a mother of four, to the cosmopolitan hostess in the embassy to France. Of course, while she is the hostess to politicians and society, her family continues to appear in her life. In fact one of the funniest scenes is when her son David appears at an embassy formal dinner in dressed for a religious pilgrimage to the China. With him he brings his adopted son and his wife, all dressed in soiled clothing and unkempt hair. There is a former diplomat's wife who refuses to leave the embassy and holds parties in her bedroom until she is vanquished with the vague threat of people not being invited to the "event". Pretty Mildred Jungfleisch appears in an unabashed character based on the real life Susan Alsop, a woman who insists on knowing all the facts she can muster. Her secretary is a niece who has borrowed her salary through the next year and often begs Fanny to take care of her duties.

Mitford makes fun of everyone in this novel. She comments on the Americans who are " mad and ill and frightened. They are fighting to express themselves in a language they've never properly learned." She finds the English stodgy, the French flighty. The setting is is the post war 1950's. While the labels for gay men are antiquated, she bucks the trend of her times of bigotry and finds their sexual life unimportant to their life at parties. She will often silence a guest holding forth in judgment about anyone with the comment, "that isn't said anymore." Fanny finds everyone with aspirations of unkindness ridiculous and comments to us frequently.

I find the characters delightful. I do not think the political jokes to be obscure. The writing is light and frothy, but still a commentary on her time. The book passes a winter's day delightfully. Mitford takes us to a world of parties, social debacles, and family oddities. Who doesn't sigh at times at the long time we must cope with life? Why not sigh with irreverent Nancy Mitford?


Tags : Don't Tell Alfred (Mitford, Nancy) [Nancy Mitford] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. When Alfred is sent to Paris as the new ambassador, Fanny faces some unusual problems, including the wife of the former ambassador,Nancy Mitford,Don't Tell Alfred (Mitford, Nancy),Da Capo Press,0881845973,20th Century English Novel And Short Story,20th century, c 1900 to c 1999,FICTION General,Fiction,General,General & Literary Fiction,Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000,Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers,Literary studies: from c 1900 -,Literature - Classics Criticism,Modern & contemporary fiction,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),Modern fiction

Don't Tell Alfred Mitford Nancy Nancy Mitford 9780881845976 Books Reviews

I have been reading and re-reading Nancy Mitford's novels and non fiction for many years but I seem to have missed this one. It's very disappointing, and I abandoned it after 60 pages. I found it surprisingly (for a Mitford novel) wooden, unfunny and unconvincing.
Wonderful book! Very insightful.
If you enjoy true wit as dry and sparkling as good champagne, Don't Tell Alfred is the book for you. Sky, insightful and truly entertaining, make sure you have a full afternoon because it is a book that is impossible to not to enjoy, and want to keep reading from cover to cover
Nancy Mitford, the oldest of the famous sisters is a charming novelist. Her books are highly readable and very enjoyable. The main character, Fanny was introduced in "The Pursuit of Love," another of her pleasant novels . She is much older, married to an Oxford don, appointed as the British ambassador I Paris. Fine humour keeps you riveted until the end!
This is the third book of the trilogy. It isn't as funny as the other two, and the only real life person in it is the uncle, who comes in at the end for one small scene, then leaves again. These characters are not as endearing as those in the first two books, and the family of the narrator are not likable. The humor in this one tends towards the absurd, and Nancy Mitford doesn't have insight into the "younger" generation the way she did into her own. It is not necessary to read this one after you've read the other two unless you are a purist who wants to finish the trilogy.
I enjoyed this book, but it has to be viewed in context. Readers not familiar with Nancy Mitford or the rest of the background will find the story dated, the characters confusing and much of the satire meaningless. It really is a prerequisite to read Pursuit of Love/Love in a Cold Climate, where most of the characters are first introduced. There have been two excellent productions of this work on PBS, one in the 1980s and one about two years ago. The book was written and takes place about 1955 in Paris, i.e., fifty years ago, so if one doesn't know or isnt willing to look up the political and social background, one also wont get much of the story. Fashions of the time play a role, with one of Fanny's sons being a "Teddy Boy" (I had to look this up on the web). French and English slang has to be viewed in the context of the 1950s. There was no European Union, or even a Common Market yet. Communism and the Cold War were in full swing.

With all that warning, the writing is good and a lot of ridiculously funny situations occur. If you're a Mitford fan and an Alconleigh family fan, this will come off as a good period piece. But dont make it your first Mitford.
While this is an engaging read, somehow the characters don't come to life in your mind like those in The Pursuit of Love or Love in a Cold Climate, Mitford's previous books with the same narrator. I highly recommend reading those two and only moving on to Don't Tell Alfred if they capture your imagination enough to want to find out something of the characters' destinies a few years down the road.
On the other hand, Mitford's writing sparkles, as ever, as the finest champagne. Mitford Girls fans will definitely enjoy the final Radlett installment while i would encourage others to read them in order of publication.
So Fanny muses to herself as she sips a sherry at the Ritz. She has been transformed from a school girl in the "hons closet", to a mother of four, to the cosmopolitan hostess in the embassy to France. Of course, while she is the hostess to politicians and society, her family continues to appear in her life. In fact one of the funniest scenes is when her son David appears at an embassy formal dinner in dressed for a religious pilgrimage to the China. With him he brings his adopted son and his wife, all dressed in soiled clothing and unkempt hair. There is a former diplomat's wife who refuses to leave the embassy and holds parties in her bedroom until she is vanquished with the vague threat of people not being invited to the "event". Pretty Mildred Jungfleisch appears in an unabashed character based on the real life Susan Alsop, a woman who insists on knowing all the facts she can muster. Her secretary is a niece who has borrowed her salary through the next year and often begs Fanny to take care of her duties.

Mitford makes fun of everyone in this novel. She comments on the Americans who are " mad and ill and frightened. They are fighting to express themselves in a language they've never properly learned." She finds the English stodgy, the French flighty. The setting is is the post war 1950's. While the labels for gay men are antiquated, she bucks the trend of her times of bigotry and finds their sexual life unimportant to their life at parties. She will often silence a guest holding forth in judgment about anyone with the comment, "that isn't said anymore." Fanny finds everyone with aspirations of unkindness ridiculous and comments to us frequently.

I find the characters delightful. I do not think the political jokes to be obscure. The writing is light and frothy, but still a commentary on her time. The book passes a winter's day delightfully. Mitford takes us to a world of parties, social debacles, and family oddities. Who doesn't sigh at times at the long time we must cope with life? Why not sigh with irreverent Nancy Mitford?