The plot remains very much the same; Knight has taken few liberties, but has recast the beloved characters and story in a modern mould. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). You can almost feel Knight giggling as she invents a new lexicon for the Radletts: “If people were short – all the Radletts were long-limbed and rangy and viewed short people with fascination and envy (‘It must be so cosy to be short,’ Linda said) – we’d say they were ‘still growing’, even if they were adults: ‘What’s she like? Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall).

The characters are all completely recognisable even when they’ve actually been changed - Jassy, for example, is perfect as a modern version of the original. Darling belongs in the pantheon of books that feel a bit like opening up a doll’s house to show the impeccable precision of the world within. 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.Okay readers, don’t judge me, we’ve all done it, but I requested this book solely on the basis of loving that simply gorgeous front cover. Linda’s daughter Moira (deathlessly described by Mitford as a ‘howling orange in a fine black wig’) is gaily abandoned in the original; here she remains a beloved, if semi-detached, family member. After writing an article in The Sunday Times about her daughter's special needs - her youngest child has DiGeorge syndrome. Other authors have come along in my reading journey that have been right up my street - Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are my all time go-to for comfort reading and never fail to raise a wry smile. I knew nothing about this book going into it, I didn’t even read a blurb, I just climbed right in and found my feet stuck in the muddy fields of Alconleigh with Fran as she observes her free spirited cousin, Linda, on her journey to find love.

She was awarded an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, where she read Modern Languages from 1984-1987, before starting her career in journalism. And it’s always a delight to find something new to carry you through winter; Knight rises to that challenge with aplomb. We also use them to help detect unauthorized access or activity that violate our terms of service, as well as to analyze site traffic and performance for our own site improvement efforts.No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, no underlining or highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. This is the difficult question when considering a retelling of a book that feels as fresh and alive as Mitford’s 1945 classic. 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 .