The Pursuit of Love cover art

The Pursuit of Love

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Pursuit of Love

By: Nancy Mitford
Narrated by: Bessie Carter
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

One of the funniest, sharpest novels about love and growing up ever written, Nancy Mitford's classic is now major a BBC and Prime Video series directed by Emily Mortimer and starring Lily James, Andrew Scott and Dominic West.

'He was the great love of her life you know.'

'Oh, dulling,' said my mother, sadly, 'One always thinks that. Every, every time.'

Oh, the tedium of waiting to grow up! Longing for love, obsessed with weddings and sex, Linda and her sisters and cousin Fanny are on the lookout for the perfect lover.

But finding Mr Right is much harder than any of the sisters had thought. Linda must suffer marriage first to a stuffy Tory MP and then to a handsome and humourless communist, before finding real love in war-torn Paris.

Nancy Mitford's wickedly funny series continues in Love in a Cold Climate and Don't Tell Alfred.

©1945 Nancy Mitford (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Contemporary Contemporary Romance Literature & Fiction Romance Comedy Funny Witty War
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Light Years cover art
Siren's Song cover art
What Lovers Do cover art
Sophie's Heart cover art
Consequences cover art
The Diary of a Provincial Lady cover art
Between Commitment and Betrayal cover art
Sarah Morris Remembers cover art
The Young Clementina cover art
Mrs. Tim of the Regiment cover art
High Rising cover art
Chain Reactions cover art
King's Dragon cover art
Manalive cover art
Eden Rising cover art
The November Girl cover art

Critic reviews

"Utter, utter bliss." (Daily Mail)

"A pleasure as intense as inheriting a perfect pearl necklace, or finding a silk dress in a vintage shop that fits like a glove." (Caitlin Moran, Harper's Bazaar)

"Peerless." (Zoe Heller)

What listeners say about The Pursuit of Love

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    101
  • 4 Stars
    40
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    99
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    89
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just lovely

I loved the narration and the story. Especially as I know this to be almost a true story. Perhaps a better time in England? It certainly sounded as if it was.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved it

this has recently been dramatised by BBC and I loved the book as much as the TV series. a real insight into events between the wars.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful book

I love this book and reread it with just as much pleasure and mirth every few years. Unfortunately the reader of this audible version completely fails to connect with the characters; her narration is adequate, but her dialogue is so misjudged that she loses most of the humour for which the book is so justly famous.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A lovely book!

The narrator captured that quintessential English Ness and a by gone time! A great, easy listen 😊

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb book but…

It’s a such a disappointment when you listen to a book you’ve loved reading and hear the audio version mangled by a poor reader. In future I will steer clear of anything narrated by Bessie Carter.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bessie Carter says the ‘N word’

I started listening ready for a book club meet in a couple of weeks and beyond horrified that the narrator confidently says the racial slur mentioned in the book. Unless you are a POC you will never understand just how exhausting and horrific it is to have these sorts of things pop up out of nowhere. It’s the sheer entitlement for me I am beyond disappointed in Penguin!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

Loved it - well performed and a facilitating look into the bright young things era. Saw parcelled with the stories of the Mitford sisters as written about by Jessica Mitford in Hons and Rebels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent narration

Brilliant story brilliantly read. Highly recommend to all. I love Nancy Mitford and so cleverly and thoughtfully narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Funny, poignant, wise: a treasure of a book.

Jessica Mitford, one of Nancy's younger sisters, wrote a fragment of autobiography, Hons and Rebels which is a fascinating picture of pre World War II England. Nancy, the eldest of the Mitford sisters, grew up the the same family and in the same house as Jessica, and mined the same material for this fictional reworking of these eccentric characters and momentous events. Nancy's book is funnier, sadder, cleverer - a total delight. Read, or listen, to them both but not at the same time and see what you think of them both.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An absolute Joy

This book is hilarious and also very sad in places absolutely loved it, far better than the recent tv series.
Absolutely recommend. The narration was perfect I just wish it had been longer.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful