In the 1950s she began writing historical biographies - her life of Louis XIV, The Sun King, became an international bestseller. While working in London during the Blitz, Nancy met and fell in love with Gaston Palewski, General de Gaulle's chief of staff, and eventually moved to Paris to be near him.

Nancy contributed columns to The Lady and the Sunday Times, as well as writing a series of popular novels including The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, which detailed the high-society affairs of the six Radlett sisters. The Mitford sisters came of age during the Roaring Twenties and wartime in London, and were well known for their beauty, upper-class bohemianism or political allegiances. Her sisters included Lady Diana Mosley Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire and Jessica, who immortalised the Mitford family in her autobiography Hons and Rebels. Biography: Nancy Mitford (Author) Nancy Mitford was born in London on November 28 1904, daughter of the second Baron Redesdale, and the eldest of six girls.Her biographical study of Nancy Mitford, Life in a Cold Climate, was published in 2003, followed by Agatha Christie: An English Mystery (2008), A Different Class of Murder: The Story of Lord Lucan (2014), and Take Six Girls: The Lives of the MitfordSisters (2015). She won the Somerset Maugham Award with her first book, The Dogs, and wrote two books about horse racing while living in Newmarket. Nancy completed her last book, Frederick the Great, before she died of Hodgkin's disease on 30 June 1973.Laura Thompson (Introducer) Laura Thompson attended stage school and Oxford University.

Nancy Mitford (Author) Nancy Mitford was born in London on November 28 1904, daughter of the second Baron Redesdale, and the eldest of six girls.

The pursuit of love in a cold climate