The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Amazon Original

The Pursuit of Love, based on the 1945 novel by Nancy Mitford, is set in the short period of time between World War I and II. Tensions and prejudices were still ripe amongst older adults, but young women were eager and ready to start their own lives.

Cousins Fanny (Emily Beecham) and Linda (Lily James) are as inseparable as they are opposite. Fanny is well-educated, reserved, and content with a stable, steady life, going on to marry the scholarly Alfred and starting her own family.

Linda, however, believes that love should be a fairy tale and will do anything to pursue such a feeling, including marrying banker and politician Tony Kroesig (Freddie Fox), running away with communist Christian Talbot (James Frenchville), before eventually falling for French diplomat Fabrice de Sauveterre, all the while unknowingly breaking the heart of a dear family friend, Sir Merlin.

Through all of Linda's travels, she knows she can rely on her cousin for support and help, blissfully unaware of how exhausted Fanny is. After years of living an eccentric life, Linda returns home to Alconleigh, pregnant at the same time as her cousin. Linda and Fanny give birth at the same time, but only Fanny returns home.

The Pursuit of Love was slower-moving than my typical choice, but I multitasked and looked up the inspiration of Mitford's original characters. As it turns out, each character is based on people who were involved with the author's life, which made the development of each character that much more interesting. This was a fun, husband-was-out-of-town kind of watch.

Since the miniseries is based on a novel, I'll be hunting it down and giving it a read! A comparison will come soon!