Reissued on the 70th anniversary of the first publication of The Pursuit of Love by Hamish Hamilton

‘I believe it would have been normal for me to have paid a visit to the outgoing ambassadress. However, the said ambassadress had set up such an uninhibited wail when she knew she was to leave, proclaiming her misery to all and sundry and refusing so furiously to look on the bright side, that is was felt she might not be very nice to me.’

Fanny is married to absent-minded Oxford don Alfred and content with her role as a plain, tweedy housewife with ‘ghastly’ clothes. But overnight her life changes when Alfred is appointed English Ambassador to Paris. In the blink of an eye Fanny’s mixing with Royalty, Rothschilds and Dior-clad wives, throwing cocktail parties and having every indiscreet remark printed in tomorrow’s papers.

But with the love lives of her new friends to organize, an aristocratic squatter who won’t budge and the antics of her maverick sons to thwart, Fanny’s far too busy to worry about the diplomatic crisis looming on the horizon …

Don’t Tell Alfred continues the hilarious stories of characters Nancy Mitford introduced in The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate and The Blessing.