The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family (original 2001; edition 2003)

This book made for fascinating reading. The Mitford girls were undoubtedly the most talked about set of sisters during the Second World War and its aftermath. Their relationships with each other as well as with influential and notorious figures of the day make their life stories well worth reading. Excellent! ( )

http://wineandabook.com/2012/05/15/review-the-sisters-the-saga-of-the-mitford-fa...

"Of course, the whole point of muck-raking, apart from all the jokes, is to try to do something to about what you've been writing about. You may not be able to change the world but at least you can embarrass the guilty." ~Jessica "Decca" Mitford (p. 481)

The Mitfords are a fascinating family.

I came to this book via an NPR list of recommended titles, and when I read the blurb, I was intrigued. A little bit about each of the girls (and Tom):

Nancy Mitford (as photographed by Cecil Beaton!!!): eldest of the seven (!!!) children; author of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate; friends with Evelyn Waugh (!!!); spent most of her adult life in love with Gaston Palewski, who though he enjoyed her attention, still maintained romantic relationships with many other (sometimes married) women.

Pamela Mitford: arrived after Nancy; nicknamed "Woman"; probably the least controversial of the bunch; preferred farming to scandal.
Tom Mitford: only boy; died relatively young

Diana Mitford: next after Tom; infamous for her first marriage to Bryan Guinness, and then relationship with and later marriage to Sir Oswald Mosely, noted Fascist; spent the better part of World War II in a jail cell for social ties to Hitler

Unity Mitford: so enamored with Nazi politics, she learned German, moved to Germany, and found a way not only to meet Hitler, but to become his close friend; shot herself (and survived) when Germany and England declared war.

Jessica "Decca" Mitford: politically very different than Diana and Unity in that she was a Communist for years; eloped to Spain with Esmond Romilly (a Churchill descendant); later moved to the US and, after Esmond's death, married Bob Treuhaft and worked in support of the Communist Party and civil rights; wrote The American Way of Death, an indictment of the funeral industry's exploitative practices.

Deborah "Debo" Mitford: youngest; was growing up in the midst of all the controversy stirred up by her elder sisters; married Andrew Cavendish and became the Duchess of Devonshire and an accomplished businesswoman.

Mary S. Lovell does a wonderful job of trying to avoid redundancy, to not only to consolidate all of the source material on the Mitfords that has accumulated over the years but really present each of the sister's perspective in a non-judgmental way (which is no small task when discussing the polarizing opinions and decisions of Diana and Unity!!!). I was particularly struck by the delicacy in which she handled Unity's developing relationship with Hitler and Diana's imprisonment during WWII. She presented the facts, expressed how the family reacted, and let the reader have their own reactions.

The entire biography was superbly well-researched, yet felt completely accessible considering that I had zero prior knowledge of the Mitford sisters (having been born post 1980). One thing that makes this bio stand out was the access she had to the remaining Mitford sisters. Near the end of the biography, Lovell discusses the other biographies written about various members of the Mitford family, each with varying degrees of access to the sisters themselves. Lovell, because of her access, was able to really speak to how the sisters themselves felt and reacted during different points of the family history, What I appreciated though was that, for her access, she really tried to present the women as the complex human beings that they were, faults as well as triumphs.

Rubric rating: 8. Check out Mitford related postings and pictures here. Apparently there's a Mitford tumblr. Who knew?? ( )

This joint biography of the 6 Mitford girls was a fun read and, I think, managed to be fair to each of them, even Unity, a groupie for Hitler and Diana, wife of British Union of Fascist head Oswald Mosley. A thoroughly good read. ( )

The Mitford family was all about strong character, independence and choices. The six daughters of Lord and Lady Redesdale seemed to have it all - with consequences they fully embraced. Raised in a permissive, upperclass household pre-World War II, their family life in England is portrayed as fun-loving with an undercurrent of derision towards each other. As they matured in the turbulent times of WW II and years following, they were full of wordly self confidence, pursued entirely divergent paths in public lives of politics (democracy, facism, socialism, communism), and private lives of wealth and romance. They were all dedicated rebels for their causes in very unique manners and lifestyles.

This narrative of the Mitfords focuses on the sisters and flows in a relatively even timeline from the girls' childhoods and through their old age. After reading this, you will have a fairly good understanding of all members of the family, how they made their choices, and how they affected each other and the world.

Though both honorable and embarrassing public events and struggles are included in this book, it was written with a positive and kindly view with a light hand on the deeper family issues such as wealth, poverty, alcoholism, illnesses, flagrant lifestyles, ambition, bitterness, etc. I got the impression there was much more to reveal that was hidden, better left unsaid, or perhaps unknown. Lovell writes more a history of the family than any attempt at a more intimate understanding of their dynamics. Taken as such, it is a good overview of an intriguing family. ( )

I came across this book completely by chance, it is very far removed from what I normally read. I was really quite pleasantly suprised. Before reading I had vaguely heard of Nancy Mitford, now I am interested to learn more about this fascinating family, their lives and politics. This comes across generally as a well-balanced, well researched biography. There were occasions where the authors fondness for her subjects coloured her views of their politics; particulaly Diana and Unity and their relationships with Mosely and Hitler respectively. Although perhaps I need to read more on the subject to be better informed myself. ( )