“I think housework is far more tiring and frightening than hunting is, no comparison, and yet after hunting we had eggs for tea and were made to rest for hours, but after housework people expect one to go on just as if nothing special had happened.” ― Nancy Mitford Aristocratic life is an occasional theme in my writing. Like many, I have toured English stately homes and dreamed about their glamorous lifestyles, but I suspect that my interest has almost entirely been influenced by Nancy Mitford, eldest daughter of a baron, commentator on manners and one of the funniest writers of the 20th century. During the writing of my latest book, RED DIRT DUCHESS, there were more than a few moments when I sat back in my chair, closed my eyes and asked, ‘what would Nancy say?’ The five Mitford sisters were infamous. All beauties and almost all eccentric, two had dubious fascist connections (Hitler, Mosley), another was a communist, whilst the youngest, Deborah, became the Duchess of Devonshire. Was there ever a family more divided by ideology than the Mitfords? Amongst them, the eldest, Nancy, remained resolutely, delightfully madcap and had no truck with dictators or fascism. As one…