Nancy Mitford novels

Nancy's 2 best known novels are covering the same time period and some of the same characters. The chief character is Linda Radlett, and her cousin, Fanny Logan is the narrator of the book. Fanny is her cousin, mousier than the lively eccentric Radletts. Linda believes in love and longs to be be grown up and to marry. But her family are not that rich and she has led a restricted life, in the country, without much mixing in "Society". She has taken a certain interest in the arts, so as to fit in with the arty upper class set but her father is a backwoods peer. He likes living in the country and doesn't approve of education for girls. He is grumpy and unsociable and rarely visits even country neighbours. Fanny has had a better education, having been brought up by her spinster aunt, Emily. and is more modern minded than the Radletts. She falls in love with Alfred Wincham, an Oxford don, who is intelligent and kind, and who has very little money. But they get engaged and plan to marry. Lady Polly Hampton is a neighbour of the Radlett family. Her father has a large estate, Hampton. She is the only child of Lord and Lady Montdore, who have served the crown in India.. Polly is very beautiful, but seems dull and shy. Her domineering mother is upset that her beautiful daughter does not seem to attract suitors. She has put all her hopes on getting Polly married to someone rich and well bred. She herself is not faithful to her husband, but their marriage has been OK for most of their lives. Lady Montdore is irritated that the Radletts' daughters, with less money and beauty and less mixing in society than Polly has had, have gotten husbands as soon as they came out in society. Linda met Tony Kroesig, the son of a wealthy banker, of German origin, and the couple fell in love. Her parents were not happy at the idea of them marrying, and neither were his parents. His father sends him off to America for a time but the young couple are determined and the families give in. They get married. Linda's sister Louisa has found a husband in her first season.