Editing The Pursuit of Love (section)

==Development==
The failure of her 1940 novel ''Pigeon Pie'' had cooled Mitford's desire to write, but in 1944, with the encouragement of her friend, writer [[Evelyn Waugh]], she began planning a new novel. In March 1945, she was given three months' leave from where she worked to write it.<ref>{{harvnb|Thompson|2003|p=209}}</ref> ''The Pursuit of Love'' is a heavily autobiographical romantic comedy in which many of her family and acquaintances appear in thin disguises.<ref name=Hastings165>{{harvnb|Hastings|1985|pp=165-167}}</ref> Despite the distraction of learning that her brother Tom had died fighting in Burma, she finished the book in June 1945.<ref>{{harvnb|Thompson|2003|p=204}}</ref> Her publishers Hamish Hamilton were so impressed with the completed manuscript that they gave her an advance of £250.<ref>{{harvnb|Thompson|2003|p=219}}</ref> In September, she went to Paris, returning to London in December 1945 for the publication of the novel.