"Highland Fling"

"Highland Fling" is the first book written by Nancy Mitford, oldest sister of Deborah Mitford (who later became the Duchess of Devonshire).  After reading Deborah's memoirs, "Wait For Me," I thought it might be fun to read her oldest sister's books.  To learn more about Nancy go to www.nancymitford.com.

The introduction to the Vintage Books version of "Highland Fling" is written by Julian Fellowes who created the popular "Downton Abbey" English TV series among other accomplishments.  He describes Nancy as a "beauty and a wit" and one of the darlings of the 20's.

I found the book to be entertaining but I suspect there were a lot of innuendos/humor I didn't get because I wasn't familiar with the players or the times.  I believe Nancy liked to base her characters on people she knew so the book might have had more interest for me if I knew some of the background.  Some of the character's antics were downright silly -- probably the idle wealthy with too much time on their hands.  However, I still found it lighthearted fun and really enjoyed the part where Sally (who has known for some time that she is pregnant with her first child) begins talking with her husband about probably she should either visit and/or let her mother know about the pregnancy before she hears about it from someone else and is peeved!  I will probably try to locate the next Nancy Mitford book that is available through Vintage Books even though I don't expect to find any memorable lines that bear repeating over and over as in Jane Austen's works.  pazt