the Pursuit (and discovery) of the Perfect Adaptation

we all love to hate book-to-screen adaptations!

I first watched The Pursuit of Love, a miniseries starring Lily James, Emily Beecham, Andrew Scott, and Emily Mortimer in the fall of 2021. By the end of the first episode, where the main character Linda walks down the aisle at her wedding to Sleater-Kinney’s “Modern Girl,” I knew deep in my bones it would join the ranks of Sleepless in Seattle, Silver Linings Playbook, and Knives Out — aka my yearly Fall Rewatch List. 

Set in 1930s England, it’s filled with rich color schemes and frivolous dialogue. Lily James as Linda is charming, oftentimes annoying, and always loveable as the one with “an intensely romantic character.” Emily Beecham as Fanny is the quiet, observant, awkward one who loves Linda more than anyone and, of course, wants, more often than not, to be Linda. Andrew Scott does his Andrew Scott thing — steals the show —as Lord Merlin, the central family’s eccentric artist neighbor. Emily Mortimer is The Bolter (yes, Taylor Swift’s inspo), and comes in as a close second to Lord Merlin for best one-liners throughout the series. 

The show is only three episodes, and follows Linda and Fanny as they grow up and come face to face (sort of) with WWII. It’s one of those shows that you just know the actors, writers, producers, stylists, etc. had the best time making. I love the depiction of female friendship — the intimacy, the annoyances, the drama, the never-ending support — as well as the support of frivolity in telling Linda’s character. I love how nonsensical the majority of the plot points and characters are. I love it from beginning to bittersweet end. 

So, of course, the big question for me was: would I love the book just as much?

Let me first say that, despite being an English major, I’m generally not super into books written before, well…1980? There are, of course, exceptions (poetry, for example…I actually feel the inverse. The older the better). Overall, however, the unfamiliarity of the writing style doesn’t do it for me. I can appreciate it, but when I cozy up on my couch to read, I want to be fully lost in what I’m reading, and I’ve yet to get that from an older text (Haley would like to counter with The Lord of The Rings, published in 1954).

As a result, I was tentative about reading the novel this series was directly adapted from: Nancy Mitford’s 1945 novel of the same name. I love the show so much, and I was tempted to let that love stay within the confines of those three episodes. Then two things happened recently that changed my tune (at least for this one book). First, I heard author Caroline O’Donoghue (shoutout to The Rachel Incident, my favorite book of 2023), talk about how she’s a die-hard Nancy Mitford fan. Second, I was on a trip to the UK and I walked right by a bookshop in London, and I saw a sign that said that Nancy Mitford had worked there during WWII. How could I NOT pop in and buy the book? 

So I did. Then I read it. And now, I’m here to definitively say…

The Pursuit of Love is the best adaptation of a book I’ve ever consumed. 

It captures the essence of each of Mitford’s characters and adds to them in a way that stays true to how, I feel, Mitford intended. There’s just more of the book in the TV series. Almost every hilarious one-liner in the book makes it into the adaptation, and the characters that you want more of while reading (The Bolter and Fanny) come to life through Emily Mortimer and Emily Beecham. 

Was I influenced by already loving the TV show? Sure. Was I destined to search for things they did right, as opposed to picking out areas they missed the mark? Absolutely.

Do I still think that it still checks all the boxes of a perfect adaptation? YEP. 

They took a book that, being written in the 40s, is peppered with problematic themes and strange plot points, and turned it into a fabulous show that almost feels like fantasy.

Would I recommend both? To be honest, I’d personally stick to the TV series (shocking based on the above, I know)...it’s just more fun. But if you happen to come across a copy of Nancy’s book, it is still, as the Daily Mail says in its review, “Utter, utter bliss.”

I’ll conclude by saying that generally speaking, I don’t actually have a problem with shows or movies that don’t perfectly adapt the novels they’re based on. I firmly believe that as long as the central themes are there, writers and directors should be able to create something new, however that looks, for audiences. When I do, however, come across an adaptation such as this TV series, which both stays true while also being something new, I’m endlessly impressed and will be content to wax poetic for quite some time. 

If nothing else, just watch this scene.

That’s all for now, dahlings! 

*said in Emily Mortimer as The Bolter voice*

xx - Mallory