This ended up being a dnf for me unfortunately. Thank you though for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I really did not connect with this book and despite numerous attempts, I have had to mark as dnf.

As a fan of satirical society fiction -- especially Nancy Mitford's 'The Pursuit of Love' -- I though that this would be a book perfect for me, taking an established model and offering an insight into contemporary society through the same biting commentary of the original.

Whilst entertaining, and wittily written (which I enjoyed immensely), Knight's 'Darling' simply seemed to replicate the plot of The Pursuit of Love in a contemporary setting and not really offer anything further, leaving the satirical commentary in the early-mid twentieth century whilst the characters occupy the twenty-first century.

I'd love to read Knight's witty, satirical, Mitford-esque style in a novel less closely modelled on a specific text, which I think lets this otherwise enjoyable novel down.

Oh but this story was amazing!
The Adlett's live in splendid isolation with Matthew Adlett a rock star with a past the paternal (over)protector and a cast of family, neighbours and friends.
The story is told by cousin Fanny who is there because her mother 'The Bolter' is never in the same place.
Linda Adlett is our hero. Beautiful, funny and loving, this is her life story.
We are taken through the bad times, the terrible ones and then the climax as she meets the man of her dreams and life is great.
Somehow, slowly, I came to love the characters in this story. The style means that we dip in and out of different stories and don't always hear the end but I found myself wanting to come back to the book and find out more.
It has stayed with me. Beautiful.

I love Nancy Mitford's books so it was with slight trepidation that I picked up Darling. I had absolutely nothing to worry about. India Knight is a genius, deftly retelling the story is a fresh, equally heart-breaking way. These characters will stay with me for a long time.

I have to be honest and admit that while fascinated by the Mitford sisters and owning several books about them, including their letters, I haven’t read The Pursuit of Love. My only knowledge of the book comes from the recent BBC adaptation. This re-imagined version of the story had some of the traits I most admired in the series, it’s glamour and deeply English sense of humour. Our heroine Linda Radlett is a hopeless romantic. Her childhood was spent in the Norfolk countryside with her parents, Matthew, an ageing and deeply eccentric rockstar and Sadie, a generous earth mother who home schools the children. Linda is desperate to find her place in the excitingly modern world out there, so when she meets Lord Merlin, an avant garde fashion designer who lives in the stately home next door. As she begins to model for him, Linda is sucked into the world she wanted, only to find it is not quite what she imagined. We follow Linda’s journey as she is pushed out of home’s solid routine and experiences a glittering world of people with experience, who learned at school and live abroad. Linda starts to feel that very bohemian indeed.
I loved the contrast between her upbringing and the real world. Like any teenager, Linda wants to rebel and her Uncle’s attitude to Lord Merlin makes his life all the more alluring.

I enjoyed the love story element as Linda meets and falls in love. However, we never know how long those moments of happiness are, something Linda finds out. I also enjoyed the contrast between the wayward and romantic Linda and the more practical Franny. There was something about her stability and her solid, happy marriage that’s enviable, despite it being much less dramatic. The author was great at updating the novel for the 21st Century, such as Uncle Mathew’s morning trawl through Instagram. I thought the author retained something of the original novel, particularly in Linda’s character and the humour. I think you could enjoy the novel without knowing it’s an update but there’s an added pleasure in seeing something reworked in this way. It was an easy read, so charming and successfully satirical too.

This is such a good holiday type of read, perfect escapism , funny , at times absurd , witty, sarcastic, it's just pure joy!
It's such a 'British' read and plot wise is very similar to The Pursuit of Love , even the names of the characters are the same . I don't think you need to have read the original to appreciate this as it works so well on it's own , perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea , glass of bubbles and some British delicacies !

I don't understand the obsession of attempting to recreate art when it was perfect the first time round. Why reinvent the wheel when it ain't broke 🤔 The Pursuit Of Love should have been left well alone to be enjoyed in its original glory.

This is such a gorgeous book to read! I was completely captivated by the characters and story, instantly transported to the English countryside, following Frances’ account of an eccentric, bohemian upbringing in a wealthy family. Beautiful cousin Linda is the romantic heroine, whose inner circle of friends we would love to join! Whilst we are willing Linda to finally find relationship success, the reactions of her supporting family and friends are incredibly witty and heartfelt, such a delight! I hadn’t appreciated this is a contemporary version of The Pursuit of Love at the time of reading, however, this book stands alone as a glorious page turner!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

This book was apparently a retelling of ‘The Pursuit of Love’, which I hadn’t read and didn’t even know about when picking this up. Yes, I’m not ashamed to say that I picked this up solely because of the book cover.

Linda Radlett grew up in a farm in Norfolk; basically in the middle of nowhere, where even mobile phone reception didn’t exist. This was despite of being a child of a super famous rock-star father and a bohemian mother. She was determined to escape the ordinariness of life, so she went to Paris, met some eccentric people, married some of them, and lived her life to the fullest.

This book had an interesting storytelling style, where the character at the central of the story (Linda) wasn’t the main narrator (Franny). Linda’s life story was rehashed to the smallest details, while the ‘I’, Franny, happily faded into the background, playing a secondhand character to Linda. Franny’s partner was only mentioned in passing, with no details of the love story itself.

The plot surrounding the Radletts family was fun. Yes, it was very British and the humour was very dry. There were a lot of sidetracked and half-completed conversations - I could picture them all talking while eating, cleaning the house, watching TV and doing a million other things at the same time. They were always distracted all the time!

All in all, it was entertaining but it didn’t blow my mind.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Unfortunately this wasn’t for me. While I enjoyed the setting and characters of the novel, I found the writing itself and pacing was not something that held my interest. Having read this though I would actually be interested in reading the source material first before attempting a reread of Darling.

Knight writes like a dream as always. She has a fantastic wit that is brilliantly portrayed in this novel. It takes skill to emulate the world of a Mitford, but she manages it beautifully.

an interesting modern retelling of a pursuit of love with a bit of a lackluster flow and pace, though still fascinating enough to finish.

I’ll admit I haven’t read The Pursuit of Love so I can’t make any comparisons, however, I loved this book! I did struggle initially, reading 11% then putting it aside as it just wasn’t capturing me but when I picked it back up weeks later, I quickly got in to it and in the end, I stayed up way too late to finish it. The writing is witty and vivid, and the characters draw you in. The book is narrated by the main character’s best friend - which I absolutely loved! If you love deadpan humour, you’ll love this book, just be ready for it to suck you in and spit you out - I laughed and cried.

A wonderful retelling of the classic The Pursuit of Love. It's an absolute joy.

I love the way it is so true to the original but brought up to date with the ageing rockstar, mobile phones and so on.

There's a lot to love about this novel, even if you don't know the Mitford novel (and aren't interested in reading it). It's fun, it's funny, it's clever. It tells the story of a messy and chaotic family, but there's nothing messy or chaotic about the writing. It's perfectly controlled and sensitive, well structured and marvellously entertaining.

The language is exquisite and hilarious. From the opening sentences, you're sucked into the story, right there at the tea table with the two teapots, the whole scene as vivid as HD TV. With Linda " - also known as Linny, Linoleum, Lino, Linguine, McCartney; Macca or sometimes Paul -" being criticised for wearing dungarees and looking like "an American who lives in the woods and whose brother is also her husband."

In short, it's brilliant.

My thanks to the author and to Netgalley for the sheer joy of reading this book, and for the opportunity to write a review.

As a fan of India Knight’s columns in The Times I was interested to read this book, as I know she is a fine, thoughtful and entertaining writer. It was a bit slow off the mark at the start, to the point where I wondered if I was going to persevere, but from about a quarter of the way through it became absolutely captivating, with everything a reader could possibly want in an entertaining, well written novel. Although the characters weren’t always 100% credible, they were very much of their time - as were the settings and the relationships. To say I was bereft when I finished the book would be an understatement, both in terms of the ending itself, and in wanting this enchanting book to continue for much longer.

I think I read The Pursuit of Love multiple times and it's one of my top books. Nancy Mitford is one of my favorite writer.
I requested this arc then I thought that may I wasn't the right person and then I thought this is a challenge.
And i liked it because it well written and it was a lot of fun.
I enjoyed it for its own merit and forget to compare it to the original.
A good, witty, and compelling story with a cast of fleshed out characters.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Reworking Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love for the modern era is not a task many authors would be capable of doing well, but India Knight has pulled it off with great style. The characters are well drawn and the descriptions - of interiors, parties, clothes, animals, places - are vivid and often joyous. The plot moves at the right pace, and there are laugh-out-loud moments and plenty of biting social commentary. You don't have to have read The Pursuit of Love to enjoy this novel, and equally if you have read it I don't think you'll find this version wanting. In short, highly recommended!

Beautiful book inside and out!!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access this book in exchange for my feedback.

At first I wasn't sure how to review this, the final chapter had me all "What ? No!!"
But somehow I had completely missed that this was a retelling of The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, which I haven't read ( I know, I know! But it is on my TBR pile, as it happens...)

So, assuming that the last chapter is simply in keeping with the original and not the author's choice, my review is that Darling was a total pleasure to read.
Witty, razor sharply-observed, heartbreaking and heartwarming, Darling is all the good things I expect from Knight's writing, as she winds us through Linda's life, pulling up all our current nonsenses and double standards.