Briefly, then, for that reader: teenage Linda Radlett lives in “the very definition of emptiness” (north Norfolk).

Marooned in a sprawling farmhouse in Norfolk, teenage Linda Radlett feels herself destined for greater things. Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. The book is narrated by Frances, a cousin of the Radlett siblings, who has been sent to live with her Aunt Sadie and Uncle Matthew by her flaky mother.Just the thing for a rainy day or a long drive to lift the spirits and make all right with the world. His violently arbitrary, Nicky Haslam-style hatreds pepper the pages: enoki mushrooms, thin socks or open-mouthed Instagrammers. Louisa, for example, the doughty oldest daughter, still marries a Scottish peer, but in Knight’s version she becomes an Instagram influencer: “‘I take pictures of the house and the children and of me, looking all golden with the light streaming in, and then I get tons of followers who love me, and then people give me things. For a reader unfamiliar with Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love, India Knight’s reimagining would be a perfect comfort read: the kind of book you take into the bath and keep reading even when the water has gone cold, a one-sitting dark-at-four joy.

The original novel centres on the life and loves of the beautiful Linda Radlett and her unconventional upbringing with her siblings and cousin Fanny (the book’s narrator) in the Cotswolds manor of Alconleigh. Fans will love Knight's clever re-imagining of this classic tale - and new readers will relish the chance to discover the glorious Radletts ― Daily Express --This text refers to the hardcover edition. Tony is still a very dull banker, Christian is a poet and Fabrice owns a few boutique hotels in Paris.I understand that using blank-space-Fran as narrator is a way of making the reader feel involved, but there should have been some serious conversations between the author and their editor at a fairly early stage about the wisdom of having much of the book narrated in great detail by someone who wasn't there and couldn't have known everything they describe, even if the characters who were there had told them. Knight also takes a gleeful magnifying glass to the hypocrisies of modern life, from rigorous dieter Blanche going to restaurants solely for social media content, to Christian making Linda do all the housework, because paying a cleaner is “immoral”.