‘Love in a Cold Climate’ by Nancy Mitford (1949) – 256 pages
I watched and delighted in Downton Abbey as much as anyone else, tuning in each week to watch the adventures of the supremely aristocratic Crawley family and their household staff. I figured that Downton Abbey was precisely calibrated to please those of today’s upper class who might still contribute money to public television, but I enjoyed it anyway.
Nancy Mitford was born into one of those aristocratic families in England but her view is entirely different from that of the writer of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes. Hers is a much less humane, wickedly humorous, look at the aristocracy from the inside. Somehow I trust Nancy Mitford in her picture of the upper class more than Julian Fellowes. The aristocrats at Downton Abbey are portrayed as being nowhere near as obnoxious as many of them at that time actually were.
Whereas in Downtown Abbey, the family cares oh so much about all the trials and tribulations that beset members of their household staff, in ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ Lady Montdore says “I love being so dry in here and seeing all those poor people so wet.”
Here is Mitford’s wicked description of Lady Montdore:
“Her curtsies, owing to the solid quality of her frame, did not recall the graceful movement of wheat before the wind. She scrambled down like a camel, rising again backside foremost like a cow, a strange performance, painful it might be supposed to the performer, the expression on whose face, however, belied that thought. Her knees cracked like revolver shots but her smile was heavenly.”
In Downton, the Maggie Smith character, the Countess of Grantham, says abrupt rascally things, but she is still lovable. In ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ the aristocrats’ behavior is often unjustifiably hateful.
In ‘Love in a Cold Climate’, we have Boy Dougdale, the Lecherous Lecturer. He is a rich uncle in his forties who flirts with the fourteen year old girls.
“But the fascinating thing was after the lecture he gave us a foretaste of sex, think what a thrill. He took Linda up on to the roof and did all sorts of blissful things to her; at least, she could easily see how they would be blissful with anybody except the Lecturer. And I got some great sexy pinches as he passed the nursery landing. Do admit, Fanny.”
The whole family is appalled when the now eighteen year old Polly decides to marry her recently widowed uncle Boy Dougdale.
As Jassy truly observed, however, “Isn’t Sadie a scream, she simply doesn’t realize that what put Polly on the Lecturer’s side in the first place must have been all those dreadful things he did to her, like he once tried to with Linda and me, and that now what she really wants most in the world is to roll and roll and roll about with him in a double bed.”
The Mitford Manor House
You can be sharp and mean and wicked in fiction. They don’t write them like ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ anymore. I wish they did.
The idea that Downton Abbey misses is that all that money and free time gave these aristocratic families many opportunities to misbehave, and misbehave they did. Many were unregenerate Nazis and needlessly cruel to their servants and less fortunate others. And their misbehavior could take countless other forms. I’m not saying that aristocrats were worse than the rest of us; they were just as bad, and considering the money and influence these people had the results were more pernicious.
I think Nancy Mitford would have agreed with that.
Grade: A
Tony's Book World 
Posted by Melissa Beck on March 27, 2016 at 4:16 AM
This sounds very charming and the type of book I would love!
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Posted by Anokatony on March 27, 2016 at 4:30 AM
HI Melissa,
I have now read two novels by Nancy Mitford, ‘The Pursuit of Love’ and ‘Love in a Cold Climate’, and I can’t see how anyone could NOT love her novels. :)
You may want to read ‘The Pursuit of Love’ first, since ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ is a bit of a sequel.
I also find the story of the Mitford family fascinating yet in many ways revolting.
Here is my earlier review of ‘The Pursuit of Love’:
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Posted by JacquiWine on March 27, 2016 at 11:17 AM
It’s been a long time since I read anything by Nancy Mitford, but I’m hoping to return to her later this year. I think you’re right to trust Nancy Mitford in her depiction of the upper classes, more so than Julian Fellowes anyway!
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Posted by Anokatony on March 27, 2016 at 2:42 PM
Hi Jacqui,
I wasn’t too surprised when I found out that Julian Fellowes was a conservative member of the House of Lords. He pretty much stacked the deck in his aristocrats’ favor. I like Nancy Mitford’s irreverence about these people.
I wonder what to read next from Nancy Mitford after these two most famous novels.
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Posted by kimbofo on March 28, 2016 at 6:56 PM
I may possibly be the only person who has never watched Downton Abbey and doesn’t care to. I do want to read this Nancy Mitford book at some point though…
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Posted by Anokatony on March 28, 2016 at 7:05 PM
Hi Kim,
How you avoided Downton Abbey is a mystery to me. You really must give Nancy Mitford a try; I found her portrayals of the upper class sharp, mean, and fascinating.
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Posted by kimbofo on March 28, 2016 at 7:55 PM
I work with posh people on posh magazines about posh subjects; I don’t need to watch them on TV too 😉
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Posted by Emma on June 14, 2016 at 11:31 PM
That makes two of us! (I haven’t seen Titanic either. Have you?)
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Posted by Max Cairnduff on March 30, 2016 at 9:08 PM
I didn’t take at all to Downton Abbey, but then I’m distinctly not a Fellowes’ fan. This though, this sounds good. Useful to know however that it’s something of a sequel as I’d heard of this but didn’t know that.
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Posted by Anokatony on March 30, 2016 at 9:21 PM
Hi Max,
‘Love in a Cold Climate’ does have several of the same family characters as ‘The Pursuit of Love’, but the plots are totally separate. There wouldn’t be much problem reading them out of order, but why do it?
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Posted by Jeanie F on March 31, 2016 at 8:22 PM
I loved DA, but knew it was an realistic picture of the British upper class. Will have to look for this – looks like a fun read!
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Posted by Anokatony on March 31, 2016 at 9:07 PM
Hi Jeanie,
A fun read it is. I admire Nancy Mitford’s exuberance while trashing her aristocratic characters.
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Posted by Emma on June 14, 2016 at 11:32 PM
I want to read this one, not because of Downtown Abbey but because I had so much fun reading her Christmas Pudding.
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Posted by Anokatony on June 15, 2016 at 2:19 AM
Hi Emma,
Yes, I am sure there are other superior books by Nancy Mitford besides ‘The Pursuit of Love’ and ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ lurking in the corners somewhere.
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Posted by Emma on June 18, 2016 at 11:01 PM
I’m not saying Christmas Pudding is superior. It was such a fun and entertaining read that I sure want to read more by her.
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