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Title: Christmas Pudding

Author: Nancy Mitford

Narrator: Kristin Atherton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-17

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Genres: Fiction, Humor

Publisher's Summary:

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford, read by Kristin Atherton.

The formidable, fox-hunting-obsessed Lady Bobbin has put together a Christmas house party at Compton Bobbin, including her rebellious daughter, Philadelphia; the girl's pompous suitor; a couple of children obsessed with newspaper death notices; and an aspiring writer whose deadly (in more ways than one) serious first novel has been acclaimed as the funniest book of the year, to his utter dismay. And then there is beautiful ex-courtesan Amabelle Fortescue and her group of guests staying in a nearby cottage.... As the house party starts to unravel, so the jokes increase: this is Nancy Mitford's second novel and one of her earliest forays into the world of the Bright Young Things.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Loved reading this again, a classic, much overlooked.

Enjoyed and bought as a gift

Familiar with her writing and have read before. Enjoyed and bought as a gift.

Christmas Pudding

This is Nancy Mitford's second novel and does feature some of the same characters as those who featured in her first book, "Highland Fling", although it is not a sequel and you do not need to have read that first for it to make sense. Although set during a Christmas house party, it is not particularly seasonal either, but is rather full of the minor intrigues and romances which Mitford delights in. There is a debut author, whose utterly serious novel has been hailed as a comic masterpiece, much to his distress; the fearsome Lady Bobbin and her children - beautiful but bored Philadelphia and the bizarrely named Bobby Bobbin, the charming Amabelle Fortescue and the return of Walter and Sally Monteath, a new MP who delights in the discovery he has (possibly) been targeted by bolsheviks, plus many others who delight in names such as Squibby, Biggy and Maydew... This is not Mitford's greatest novel, but, even not yet at her best, she is still better than most other writers. There are unsuitable love affairs, oddly pragmatic advice, bizarre characters and a lot of fun packed into this novel, which looks at the world Nancy Mitford knew imtimately and wrote about with such detail you feel almost nothing missed that sharp, satirical eye.

Witty Fun

This is sort of like an absurd, hilariously funny Jane Austen, set between the World Wars among England's Bright Young Things. Poor Paul Fotheringay has poured his heart and soul into a tragic novel--at its end his despondent hero and heroine fail even in their suicide attempt--but though the public adores his book they universally think it's the funniest thing they've ever read. Being cruelly misunderstood by his audience and his status-seeking, head-turningly beautiful fiancee is making him wretched, but Paul revives when he comes up with a new project, the biography of a little known nineteenth century poet. While he is passing himself off as an outdoorsy (as if!) tutor to research the mysterious poet Lady Maria Bobbin (her diaries are in the hands of a fanatically sporty descendant) hunts are mounted, parties are attended, games are played, alcohol is consumed and people fall in and out of love at a shocking rate.

Mild amusement from Mitford

This is not the best Mitford, but if you're a fan of hers, you'll want to read it anyway. The story is a little boring, and the satire is a bit subtler than her later work.