Rating: 
Summary: Delightful! (*NOT* Dysfunctional)
Review: Oh dear oh dear...in these therapeutic days I suppose the characters in "The Blessing" would be obliged to confront their addictions, and natter on about their dyfunctions to solemn counselors -- and in the process bore us, the readers, to shrieks!Nancy Mitford has a keen yet tolerant eye for the foibles and follies of humanity, to say nothing of a positively wicked ear for dialogue that reveals a character in a sentence or two. A delight and a grand giggle, from start to finish!
Rating:
Summary: My favourite Nancy Mitford Book
Review: That even includes Love in a Cold Climate, actually! I thought this book was very funny and quite brilliant. It follows the marriage of a sweet English belle to a handsome, wealthy frenchman from a very well connected family. The marriage is rocky, as the two come from very different backgrounds, but they have their son, "the blessing," to tie them together. As Nancy lived in Paris and grew up in England, she obviously knows a lot of the details about living in both places. The details are perfect. If you are interested in what Paris high society was like in the 1950's, you should definately read this book: Nancy obviously knows all of the gossip. If you've read "What Maisie Knew" you MUST read this book. I saw this book as quite a brilliant parody of that one. If I said more, it would give too much away, so just take my word for it.
Rating:
Summary: My favourite Nancy Mitford Book
Review: That even includes Love in a Cold Climate, actually! I thought this book was very funny and quite brilliant. It follows the marriage of a sweet English belle to a handsome, wealthy frenchman from a very well connected family. The marriage is rocky, as the two come from very different backgrounds, but they have their son, "the blessing," to tie them together. As Nancy lived in Paris and grew up in England, she obviously knows a lot of the details about living in both places. The details are perfect. If you are interested in what Paris high society was like in the 1950's, you should definately read this book: Nancy obviously knows all of the gossip. If you've read "What Maisie Knew" you MUST read this book. I saw this book as quite a brilliant parody of that one. If I said more, it would give too much away, so just take my word for it.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful! (*NOT* Dysfunctional)
Review: The Blessing is Nancy Mitford's most confident and solid novel. A delightful frivolity and a laughing reproach to those who think novels must be moral primers. I find it too funny that two generations later some Americans at least are still taking life far too seriously (see review dated January 3, 2000); in 1949 Mitford complained about Americans in a letter to Evelyn Waugh that, "No message or meaning -- adds up to just nothing is their parrot cry" (Letters of N.M. and E.W., p. 138).
Rating:
Summary: Mitford's best novel
Review: The Blessing is Nancy Mitford's most confident and solid novel. A delightful frivolity and a laughing reproach to those who think novels must be moral primers. I find it too funny that two generations later some Americans at least are still taking life far too seriously (see review dated January 3, 2000); in 1949 Mitford complained about Americans in a letter to Evelyn Waugh that, "No message or meaning -- adds up to just nothing is their parrot cry" (Letters of N.M. and E.W., p. 138).
Rating: 
Summary: FROTH AND FUN
Review: The truly confectionary novel seems to have languished in the current vogue for the kind of fiction that purports to struggle with the darker side of human nature. It was a pleasant surprise to have discovered Nancy Mitford's novel, The Blessing. As is well known, Mitford's fiction always had a hard core of autobiography. As Mitford herself emigrated from London to Paris and fell in love with a Frenchman, we find The Blessing's heroine, Grace Allingham doing the same -- the only difference being Grace marries her Frenchman. The culture shock and social gaffes that Grace must endure give the novel its spice. If there is anything annoying in the novel it is the habit of the novelist to lapse into fragments of French. The narrative seems to zip along in English, then, for apparently no reason, there are linguistic speed bumps in the form of French phrases, which for those unfamiliar with the language, can bring the pleasure of the narrative to a grinding halt. Nevertheless, though it is a little dated, the Blessing remains just that: a fictional treasure for those who seek a few hours undemanding literary diversion.
Rating: 
Summary: a wonderful romantic read
Review: What could be a better plot for a quick weekend read? Girl falls in love with dashing french soilder, girl gets pregnant with said solider, solider goes to war, returns seven years later, picks up wife and child and drive to France. Simple, right? Alas, no, the simplicity ends here. Once in France, girl (Grace) and husband (Charles-Edouard) have a nice home there, often attend balls and play with their dear "blessing" of a son, Sigisimond (Sigi). Then Grace, relizes that Charles-Edouard is a incredible flirt, witch women from all over France! Drinks tea with the same lady every day, goes on long walks and spends balls with the pretty young Juliette Novembre. In this hilarious and well written novel, Mitford unwinds a relaxing, funny, and curious story. What will happen, when Grace discovers an awful secret and fleds back to England with SIgi? Witty, witty, writing.
Rating:
Summary: a wonderful romantic read
Review: What could be a better plot for a quick weekend read? Girl falls in love with dashing french soilder, girl gets pregnant with said solider, solider goes to war, returns seven years later, picks up wife and child and drive to France. Simple, right? Alas, no, the simplicity ends here. Once in France, girl (Grace) and husband (Charles-Edouard) have a nice home there, often attend balls and play with their dear "blessing" of a son, Sigisimond (Sigi). Then Grace, relizes that Charles-Edouard is a incredible flirt, witch women from all over France! Drinks tea with the same lady every day, goes on long walks and spends balls with the pretty young Juliette Novembre. In this hilarious and well written novel, Mitford unwinds a relaxing, funny, and curious story. What will happen, when Grace discovers an awful secret and fleds back to England with SIgi? Witty, witty, writing.
Rating:
Summary: Approaches love and loss with a light and sure hand.
Review: What I really like about this book is that it never gives into the temptation to take itself too seriously. Mitford draws a great deal of both pathos and humor into her portrait of Grace-- a lovely but not terribly clever woman. When Grace marries Charles-Edouard she doesn't carefully consider what it means to be marrying into Paris society. She doesn't carefully consider anything at all. A war bride with a young child, she's bundled off to Paris after her hardly-seen husband returns from fighting. Charles-Edouard has a flexible set of ideas about fidelity; her son decides he'd be better off with divorced parents; and nobody in Paris considers them married since they didn't formalize their union in a church. The book suffers somewhat from a meandering form, but the writing sparkles with wit and life.
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