Folio Archives 484: Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford 2010
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Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford 2010
This is the extraordinary and fascinating autobiography of Jessica Mitford (1917-1996) from her childhood to the start of World War Two. In many parts it reads more like an adventure novel than a biography.
Jessica was one of seven children (six girls, one boy) whose parents were minor nobility. Her father sat in the House of Lords, while her dominating mother kept all the children home on an isolated Oxfordshire estate where they were home schooled and rarely associated with any other children. Doctors, vaccinations and healthcare generally were avoided, but when Jessica got appendicitis the local GP surgically removed her appendix in her home bedroom!
As an “honourable”, Jessica and her sisters became debutantes and were presented at court when they turned 18, after that they were let loose on society by their parents, but several sisters did not continue as expected. Jessica’s oldest sister, Nancy, became a famous author (The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate etc.); while another sister, Diana, became an ardent Nazi and confidant of Hitler. Jessica herself became a socialist and ran away to join the forces opposing Franco in the Spanish Civil war, thus becoming a rebel.
The tale ends when Jessica is living in the USA with her husband and second cousin, Esmond, (a nephew of Winston Churchill) where she becomes a member of the American Communist Party.
The book is illustrated with 13 pages of monochrome photo plates recording events in Jessica’s life. There is a five page introduction by A. N. Wilson. The xvii + 267 page book is bound in cloth printed with a dark and light brown houndstooth pattern with a colour picture on the front cover, and has dark brown endpapers. The brown slipcase measures 23.6x15.7cm.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
This is the extraordinary and fascinating autobiography of Jessica Mitford (1917-1996) from her childhood to the start of World War Two. In many parts it reads more like an adventure novel than a biography.
Jessica was one of seven children (six girls, one boy) whose parents were minor nobility. Her father sat in the House of Lords, while her dominating mother kept all the children home on an isolated Oxfordshire estate where they were home schooled and rarely associated with any other children. Doctors, vaccinations and healthcare generally were avoided, but when Jessica got appendicitis the local GP surgically removed her appendix in her home bedroom!
As an “honourable”, Jessica and her sisters became debutantes and were presented at court when they turned 18, after that they were let loose on society by their parents, but several sisters did not continue as expected. Jessica’s oldest sister, Nancy, became a famous author (The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate etc.); while another sister, Diana, became an ardent Nazi and confidant of Hitler. Jessica herself became a socialist and ran away to join the forces opposing Franco in the Spanish Civil war, thus becoming a rebel.
The tale ends when Jessica is living in the USA with her husband and second cousin, Esmond, (a nephew of Winston Churchill) where she becomes a member of the American Communist Party.
The book is illustrated with 13 pages of monochrome photo plates recording events in Jessica’s life. There is a five page introduction by A. N. Wilson. The xvii + 267 page book is bound in cloth printed with a dark and light brown houndstooth pattern with a colour picture on the front cover, and has dark brown endpapers. The brown slipcase measures 23.6x15.7cm.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
