List Appertaining To Books The Blessing
| Title | : | The Blessing |
| Author | : | Nancy Mitford |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 221 pages |
| Published | : | July 1st 1998 by Carroll & Graf Publishers (first published 1951) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. Humor. Cultural. France. Literature. European Literature. British Literature |
Nancy Mitford
Paperback | Pages: 221 pages Rating: 3.79 | 1788 Users | 152 Reviews
Narration As Books The Blessing
With characteristically amusing malice, Mitford blends a comedy of manners with culture shock as Grace Allingham, a naive English rose, impulsively marries Charles-Edouard de Valhubert, a French nobleman with all his class's charm and decadence. Both are duped, however, by their son Sigismund -- the Blessing of the title -- a juvenile Machiavelli who mixes Gallic cunning with Saxon thoroughness to become one of Mitford's most memorable characters.
Details Books Toward The Blessing
| Original Title: | The Blessing |
| ISBN: | 0786705213 (ISBN13: 9780786705214) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Appertaining To Books The Blessing
Ratings: 3.79 From 1788 Users | 152 ReviewsWrite Up Appertaining To Books The Blessing
**3.5 Stars**#1951Club - 10-16 April 2017Funny and light, like a summer brunch with a glass of sparkling. Nancy Mitford novels combine wit with good insight and are excellent summer reads. This one is no exception - recommended!
Nancy Mitford was the eldest of the famous Mitford sisters; while her sisters Diana, Unity, and Jessica are famous (or infamous) for their politics (Jessica was a Communist, while the other two were Nazi sympathizers and friends of Hitler), Nancy was celebrated as a leading member of the Bright Young Things and a brilliant writer. She wrote eight novels, several biographies, and various essays, all of which are a joy to read, but The Blessing is perhaps my favorite of her books.Grace Allingham
I read this right after The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. I did not like it nearly as much. It didn't have the humor the other two and I just never cared about the characters very much.
Hmm...As WW2 is beginning, Grace receives a visit from Charles-Edouard, an aristocratic French friend of her fiancé, Hugh. Within a month, poor Hugh has been dumped, Charles-Edouard and Grace have married and C-E has gone off to war. Finding herself pregnant, Grace goes off to live in her fathers country house, and waits seven long years for C-E to return. When he does, he promptly whisks Grace and the child, Sigi, off to France, where he divides his time between his wife and his mistresses.
It does feel good to read another Nancy Mitford. Her style is easily spotted in a crowd, I find. Her wit is sharp, to the point, her characters unforgettable and The Blessing is no exception. Such eccentricity in one book, it's amazing how she does it without making it too cliché. I found the essentialist statements to be well below her usual standards (the constant French/English comparisons are frankly strange though it has a context at least) but on the other hand in one scene one of her best
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