Grace Dent loves Nancy Mitford for her wit, and for the way in which she showed women that it was possible to live your life fully and unconventionally.

Matthew Parris asks why, with the aid of biographer Lisa Hilton.

Nancy Mitford's greatest success came with the novels The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949). Matthew Parris asks what it is about Nancy that so inspires Grace, with the aid of Mitford biographer Lisa Hilton.

Grace Dent is a TV critic, newspaper columnist, author, and broadcaster.

Producer Beth O'Dea

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013.