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  • Published: 8 August 2023
  • ISBN: 9780241955055
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $26.00

Darling

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




A razor-sharp, gloriously funny retelling of Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love

Marooned in a sprawling farmhouse in Norfolk, teenage Linda Radlett feels herself destined for greater things. She longs for love, but how will she ever find it? She can't even get a signal on her mobile phone. 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.

When Linda eventually moves to London, she doesn't want to marry 'a man who looks like a pudding', as her good and dull sister Louisa has done, and marries the flashy, handsome son of a UKIP peer instead. But love, and her new life in London, are not quite what she expected . . .

  • Published: 8 August 2023
  • ISBN: 9780241955055
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $26.00

About the author

India Knight

India Knight was born in 1965. She lives in London with her two children. She is the author of two novels, My Life on a Plate and Don't You Want Me? plus with Neris Thomas, Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet; an invaluable guide to losing weight and feeling great. All of the above are published by Penguin.

Also by India Knight

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Praise for Darling

A savagely funny, bracingly sad, dazzlingly clever reimagining of The Pursuit of Love. I loved it

Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and Bliss

A triumph! Brilliantly done, faithful but imaginative, tremendously romantic and very funny. Meeting the Radlett family again in the 21st century was an absolute a treat, rather like hearing a new arrangement of beloved old carol and hearing it anew, with trumpets

Nina Stibbe, author of Reasons to be Cheerful

Sheer brilliance. Darling is hilarious and heartbreaking and vivid and and clever and utterly compulsive - I absolutely loved it

Francesca Segal, author of Mother Ship

Darling is a black forest gateau of a book: rich characters, sumptuous prose, delicious dialogue, and layered throughout with sharp wit and intelligence (which are even better than the cherry liqueur the gateau calls for). Somehow, India Knight's writing manages to be hilarious, melancholy, insightful, and romantic all at the same time. Treat yourself to this novel

Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning Riser

I found myself tearing through, beguiled by Knight's faithful channelling of Radlett ways, wiles and speech patterns ... Reinventing anything so beloved is a formidable challenge, and Knight has risen to it admirably

The Bookseller

Total escapist bliss. A joyous updating of the Mitford classic. I loved every page

Sabine Durrant, author of Finders Keepers

[A] lively modern update of a passionately loved classic ... A sizzling modern-day comedy of manners. Plenty of Mitfordian wit but with Ukip peers and mobile phones

The Times, Best Fiction to Read This Autumn

A modern retelling of Nancy Mitford's beloved The Pursuit of Love ... Knight nails the wit and satire

Grazia

Fans of Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit Of Love will adore this brilliant contemporary take ... The writing is as sharp, the details as perfect, the jokes as funny as [the] original

Daily Mail

The delight is in the details. Knight's are bang on, and there's joy in spotting them ... There's heart as well as humour: it was, and remains, a sincere romance ... Pursuit of Love diehards can rest easy: your blood vessels are safe with this faithful, fiercely funny homage

Spectator

It takes a brave author to attempt a contemporary reimagining of such a beloved novel. Luckily, India Knight [...] has courage and talent in spades ... It's beautifully and meticulously done, echoing the detail of the original plot as far as feasible, but with contemporary twists ... Knight is warmer than Mitford, and more comforting

Sunday Times

Beguiling reimagining ... Spry and wry Darling is delicious

Mail on Sunday, Best New Fiction

In less talented hands, Knight's retelling of this classic novel might have gone horribly wrong. But Darling is a treat, with whip-smart dialogue, larger-than- life characters, witty observations and a heart-breaking twist ... Fans will love Knight's clever re-imagining of this classic tale - and new readers will relish the chance to discover the glorious Radletts

Daily Express

What could have been a disaster - a modern reimagining of Nancy Mitford's superlative comedy of manners The Pursuit of Love - is an absolute triumph. Romantic, clever and oh-so funny

The i Paper, What We're Reading

A perfect comfort read: the kind of book you take into the bath and keep reading even when the water has gone cold, a one-sitting, dark-at-four joy ... Darling is a very human book, full of feelings and heartbreak and humour and joy

Ella Risbridger, Guardian