[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-661226-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-661226-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","the-pursuit-of-love-chapter-book-introduction","The Pursuit of Love - Chapter Book Introduction","","The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (1904–73), largely autobiographical, traces her family life in a large remote country house through early chapters and reflects her path as a writer: early novel work, later success in 1945, and subsequent novels and biographical writing. It also introduces Zoë Heller’s perspective, framing the novel as a comic but sharp, intelligent book with an undercurrent of melancholy that surprises long-time readers, supported by specific examples from the text.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-pursuit-of-love-chapter-book-introduction/661226/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-pursuit-of-love-chapter-book-introduction/661226.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Jordan Avery","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-28",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":22},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"Is The Pursuit of Love based on Nancy Mitford’s own life?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"The author states that the early chapters recount her childhood and that the novel is largely autobiographical.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How is the novel described in Zoë Heller’s introduction?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"Zoë Heller describes it as a comic novel—light in tone—yet too “spiky and intelligent” to be entirely cosy, with a melancholy undertow beneath the wit.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What happens to the novel’s appeal over time according to the introduction?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Heller says it has held up beautifully over time and continues to yield riches, while readers may either love it with “dotty passion” or despise it with equal fervour depending on their response to Mitford’s distinctive voice.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},661226,1793160476,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,90,94,99,104,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":88,"slug":89},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":95,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":22,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":79,"read_time":144},1099523882367,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","PENGUIN BOOKS  \nThe Pursuit ofLove  \nNancy Mitford (1904–73) was born in London, the eldest child of the second Baron Redesdale. Her childhood in a large, remote country house with her five sisters and one brother is recounted in the early chapters of The Pursuit ofLove (1945), which, according to the author, is largely autobiographical. Apart from being taught to ride and speak French, Nancy Mitford always claimed she never received a proper education. She started writing before her marriage in 1932 in order ‘to relieve the boredom of the intervals between the recreations established by the social conventions of her world’ and had written four novels, including Wigs on the Green (1935), before the success of The Pursuit ofLove in 1945. After the war she moved to Paris where she lived for the rest of her life. She followed The Pursuit ofLove with Love in a Cold Climate (1949), The Blessing (1951) and Don’t Tell Alfred (1960) . She also wrote four works of biography: Madame de Pompadour, first published to great acclaim in 1954, Voltaire in Love, The Sun King and Frederick the Great. As well as being a novelist and a biographer she also translated Madame de Lafayette’s classic novel La Princesse de Clèves into English, and edited Noblesse Oblige, a collection of essays concerned with the behaviour of the English aristocracy and the idea of ‘U’ and‘non-U’. Nancy Mitford was awarded the CBE in 1972.  \nZoë Heller is the author of three novels: Everything You Know; Notes on a Scandal, which was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2003; and The Believers.  \nThe Pursuit of Love  \nNANCY MITFORD  \nIntroduction by Zoë Heller  \nPENGUIN BOOKS  \nTo Gaston Palewski  \nPENGUIN BOOKS  \nPublished by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario,  \nCanada M4P 2Y3  \n(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)  \nPenguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books  \nLtd)  \nPenguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,  \nAustralia  \n(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)  \nPenguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi –  \n110 017, India  \nPenguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand  \n(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)  \nPenguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg  \n2196, South Africa  \nPenguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England  \n[www.penguin.com](www.penguin.com)  \nFirst published 1945  \nPublished in Penguin Books 1949 Reissued with a new introduction in this edition 2010  \nCopyright © the Estate of Nancy Mitford, 1945 Introduction copyright © Zoë Heller, 2010 All rights reserved  \nThe moral right of the author of the introduction has been asserted  \nExcept in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that itshall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher ’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser  \nISBN: 978-0-14-196473-7  \nContents  \nIntroduction  \nChapter 1  \nChapter 2  \nChapter 3  \nChapter 4  \nChapter 5  \nChapter 6  \nChapter 7  \nChapter 8  \nChapter 9  \nChapter 10  \nChapter 11  \nChapter 12  \nChapter 13  \nChapter 14  \nChapter 15  \nChapter 16  \nChapter 17  \nChapter 18  \nChapter 19  \nChapter 20  \nChapter 21  \nIntroduction  \nSome novelists emerge, as if from the head of Zeus, with their talents fully formed, their distinctive styles already in place. Others shilly-shally for a couple of books until, for reasons that have as much to do with chance as with effort, they happen upon an idea, or a character, or even an opening s","cbCaihlX60v5vR6Q","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihlX60v5vR6Q","pdf",1171562,205,"English","# Introduction\n## Chapter 1\n## Chapter 2\n## Chapter 3\n## Chapter 4\n## Chapter 5\n## Chapter 6\n## Chapter 7\n## Chapter 8\n## Chapter 9\n## Chapter 10\n## Chapter 11\n## Chapter 12\n## Chapter 13\n## Chapter 14\n## Chapter 15\n## Chapter 16\n## Chapter 17\n## Chapter 18\n## Chapter 19\n## Chapter 20\n## Chapter 21","[{\"question\":\"Is The Pursuit of Love based on Nancy Mitford’s own life?\",\"answer\":\"The author states that the early chapters recount her childhood and that the novel is largely autobiographical.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the novel described in Zoë Heller’s introduction?\",\"answer\":\"Zoë Heller describes it as a comic novel—light in tone—yet too “spiky and intelligent” to be entirely cosy, with a melancholy undertow beneath the wit.\"},{\"question\":\"What happens to the novel’s appeal over time according to the introduction?\",\"answer\":\"Heller says it has held up beautifully over time and continues to yield riches, while readers may either love it with “dotty passion” or despise it with equal fervour depending on their response to Mitford’s distinctive voice.\"}]","The Pursuit of Love - Chapter Book Introduction | PDF",316]