Love in a Cold Climate

"Love in a Cold Climate" is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. The title is a direct quotation from George Orwell's novel "Keep The Aspidistra Flying" (1936).

Plot summary

Like its predecessor, "The Pursuit of Love", "Love in a Cold Climate" is narrated by Fanny, and covers a similar time period but deals with a different subset of characters, revealing more about Fanny's own personal life and the early years of her marriage to Alfred Wincham, an Oxford don.

However, the main characters are Lord and Lady Montdore and their stunning daughter, Polly. Following the death of Lord Montdore's sister, Patricia, Polly shocks everyone by marrying the widower, middle-aged Lothario "Boy" Dougdale. Her mother, incensed because Boy had previously been her own lover, cuts Polly off. She is soon replaced in her parents' affections by her cousin, Cedric Hampton, a Nova Scotian who is heir to Lord Montdore's title. The outrageously camp Cedric charms everyone he meets and successfully changes Lady Montdore's stuffy image. This highly comic novel ends with a half-hearted reconciliation between Polly and her mother, while Cedric confides to Fanny that he has started a love-affair with Boy.

Television adaptations

"Love in a Cold Climate" has been adapted twice as a mini-series:
* in 2001 by Deborah Moggach for the BBC starring Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh - imdb title|id=0278548
* in 1980 by Simon Raven for Thames Television starring Judi Dench - imdb title|id=0180369Both versions were broadcast in the U.S. by PBS as part of "Masterpiece Theatre".