Darling: A razor-sharp, gloriously funny retelling of Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love

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My favourite passage is the list of Things That Uncle Matthew Doesn't Like - absolute comedy genius. Their unique, somewhat cloistered, childhood let their imaginations run rife; growing up is an adventure. I have done ever since I picked up a copy of Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison when I was 13 and would spend hours laughing over every sentence. OK – so I need to hold my hands up first and say I’ve never read ‘The Pursuit of Love’ by Nancy Mitford – so whilst this is a retelling – it was a brand new story / set of characters for me – but as a fan of India Knight’s writing I requested an ARC from NetGalley. There are good lovely things, owned by the creative bohemians (squashy sofas, dogs, “square-cut antique emerald cufflinks”), and bad lovely things, owned by the Ukip-voting parvenus (Hunter wellies) and the faux-commie Etonians (slim hardback novels).

I came across at least three sentences which made me stumble, because there are mistakes in them which should have been sorted out. The Pursuit of Love has been a favourite of mine for years and this re-telling is lovely, unlike the horrible television adaptation a couple of years ago.The Cotswolds of the original has become remote North Norfolk “‘Ah, here we are, the absolute arse end,’ Uncle Matthew would say with deep satisfaction whenever we drove home from somewhere. Knight’s characters are sparky and fun, and in some cases their relationships are crafted with more care than in Mitford’s original. Trouble is, Linda’s lived a very sheltered life and tends to see the best in people, even when people aren’t being their best.

Darling is also in that vein, that serves a heightened sense of reality in a decidedly upper-middle-class world, where worries are real but they are less where the money for the mortgage is going to come from and more will they be able to afford a junior suite at the Ritz in Paris, or will it have to be a mere double room. Perhaps this is why she remains a heroine for all ages: there is an innocence about her, even as she abandons a child and, here, dabbles in drugs. After writing an article in The Sunday Times about her daughter's special needs - her youngest child has DiGeorge syndrome.The independent-minded quarterly magazine that combines good looks, good writing and a personal approach. Linda's strict, former rock star father terrifies any potential suitors away, while her bohemian mother, wafting around in silver jewellery, answers Linda's urgent questions about love with upsettingly vivid allusions to animal husbandry.

She uses the device of no phone signal, and a ban on electronics (“analogue children in a digital age”) to allow the Radletts to be as old-fashioned and wild as Mitford’s original clan. Big love too for Nina Stibbe - the Lizzie Vogle trilogy are inspired works of comic fiction, full of well drawn observations of people's little quirks and foibles. So glad I bought this on a whim (read: based on the beautiful cover) when visiting John Sandoe Books in Chelsea!

Armed with a key and new knowledge about his parents' past, Nik sets out to unlock the secrets that his mother has been holding onto his whole life. Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. Her story is told by Fran, the cousin who had been sent to grow up with the Radletts when it became clear that her care-free mother couldn’t give her the stable childhood she needed. But this is only the beginning of Linda's pursuit of love, a journey that will be wilder, more surprising and more complicated than she could ever have imagined.

To become a subscriber to Slightly Foxed: The Real Reader’s Quarterly Magazine, please visit our subscriptions page. So fresh, fun and full of heart, charm and whimsy - and that devastating ending comes all the more sharply because the reader has been having such a good time with the Radletts (extra points for including a reference to Cromer! I think we can all relate to the struggles that Linda faces, as well as a loathe for the Christians and Tonys of the world.

This is a book full of lovely things: clothes and curtains and old Apple Mac computers in “boiled-sweet pink”. But Darling is a treat , with whip-smart dialogue , larger-than- life characters , witty observations and a heart-breaking twist .