Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #322 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 830 pages

Review
'"The Mitfords" are all competitively exasperating!but slowly, cumulatively, as age and death are stared gallantly in the eye, I ended in tears.' The Guardian 'The letters are all compulsively readable!and have a funny, sharp and stylish freshness that suggests they could have just pinged into your inbox'.' The Times Pick of the Week '"The Mitfords" is a thrilling and moving, funny and serious book. Here is a story of a family, of loyalty, love, humour, tragedy and at times, chilling deception, a tale that sometimes amuses and horrifies, but always fascinates!with the diminishing use of the letter as a means of communication, one wonders if there will ever again be such a luminous correspondence.' Telegraph 'Charlotte Mosley's glorious collection -- by turns hilarious, moving and shocking -- should be read by both detractors and admirers, because these letters are social history, pure and simple.' Waterstones Books Quarterly 'This is a long book which gets better and better as you proceed, the genius of it being in its gathering momentum!As editor, (Charlotte Mosley's) quiet rigour and fearlessness of skeletons both in and out of cupboards must be saluted!one is aware of having read something not only unique but very moving too!' The Express

Times, Pick of the Week
`The letters are all compulsively readable...funny, sharp and stylish...they could have just pinged into your inbox.'

Telegraph
'Bright, intimate and moving correspondence.'

Customer Reviews

Really good read
I am really interested in the Mitford Sisters so I have been really looking forward to getting this book. It was much bigger than I expected but was very enjoyable. I admit that I got a bit bored with all the footnotes and about half-way through just started to ignore them unless I was really confused. Through the letters you get to see life from their many different perspectives, it really made me think of the relationship that I have with my own sister and the many times that we have seen the same situation in very different ways. I would recommend this book to people even if they are not a fan of the Mitfords- it gives a really good insight into that period of history.

Interesting revelations
These letters certainly open a window on the true characters of the six Mitford sisters (perhaps less so on Unity, because her life basically ended in 1939).

I found the written exchanges between Debo and Diana particularly interesting as these letters, particularly the latter ones, confirmed what I already suspected: what utter snobs they were (are); much more heartless, really, than Nancy (who they accused of being heartless, between themselves, many times). It's also made clear from these letters that none of the sisters, except possibly Nancy, had much respect or sisterly loyalty for Jessica Mitford after she abandoned her upper class family for a life of social activism in the USA. It's as if a wall came down between Jessica and her upper class sisters, which only Nancy was occasionally able to bridge (Debo's so-called special relationship with her "Hen" notwithstanding--I think Jessica invested more in that relationship than Debo ever could). It's very unpleasant to read a discussion of just what Jessica should be told about Nancy's medical condition, or if she should be summoned to their mother's deathbed, or Nancy's. They (Diana and Debo, and Pam in particular) obviously, if almost subconsciously, wanted Jessica kept apart.

(I'm not saying I didn't find Jessica's dogged belief in the benefits of Communism offensive at times, but in the face of Diana's unredeemed Fascism it is somewhat more palatable. At least, she was trying to make a world fit for all to live in, not just a world fit for a few to live in.)

I don't know what else to say about these letters. Some of them are certainly funny, clever, a window on the sisters' lives and times, etc., but the strongest impression I received was the overall lack of affection for Jessica after she decided to remain in America following her first husband's death in WWII. It's a shame that Jessica didn't cool her relationship with Debo because the relationship was so sadly, on Debo's part, disloyal and underhanded.

Fascinating and very enjoyable read
I knew nothing about the Mitfords before borrowing this book from my mum. I found it highly compelling, especially all the references to the many influential and varied people of the 20th century. It is also very sad at times, especially the harsh realities of the passage of time. This collection of letters has been carefully chosen to tell the reader the Mitfords' story but in the words of the girls themselves.