Product Description

Among the six daughters and one son born to David, second Lord Redesdale, and his wife Sydney were Nancy, the novelist and historian; Diana, who married fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, friend of Hitler; Jessica, who became a communist and then an investigative journalist; and Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire and mistress of Chatsworth. 'The Mitford Girls,' as John Betjeman called them, were one of the twentieth century's most controversial families; said to be always either in shrieks of laughter or floods of tears, they were glamorous, romantic and - especially in politics - extreme. Yet the teasing, often bordering on cruelty, the flamboyant contrasts and the violent disagreements, hid a powerful affection, subtle likenesses in character, and a powerful underlying unity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73009 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

The Times
'This entertaining book continues to promote the Mitfords' historical interest'

Review
'Bigger, better and back on the shelves. Lord Moyne's lively account of the swishest society sextet has been updated. It's an oldie but it's a goodie'. (Camilla Long Tatler )

'This entertaining book continues to promote the Mitfords' historical interest' (The Times )

About the Author
Jonathan Guinness is the elder son of Diana Mosley by her first marriage to Bryan Guinness, now Lord Moyne. He has worked in journalism and banking. Catherine Guinness is the eldest of his five children. She has been a journalist with Interview magazine and has also worked for a firm of investment advisers. She is married to James, Lord Neidpath, the historian.

Customer Reviews

A lot of inside information!
Jonathan Guinness is Diana Mosley (neé Mitford)'s son, so he had access to all the inside information on the much written about Mitford girls. I found much more info in this book than in the Nancy Mitford biographies by Harold Acton or Selina Hastings, although I must say I enjoyed the latter very much. The girls' grandparents turn out to be very interesting people (especially the grandfathers). You get a deeper insight of a number of the members of the family (Farve and Muv, for example). The history of Unity M. in Germany seemed a bit long, and I got the impression Mr. Guinness tries too hard to explain Mr. and Mrs. Mosley's fascism. In all, I found this book very entertaining, and I recommend it to all Mitford fans.

An apologia
The book is an interesting attempt to widen out interest in the family from just the famous sisters. It spends rather too long on the grandfathers trying to find eccentricities to explain the characters of the girls.
More importantly, as one other review suggests, it is heavily biased towards justifying the Fascist sympathies of several of the girls, their brother and their mother. In fairness there is no attempt to conceal this, and the fact that it is written by family members makes the sympathy understandable and recognisable.

The House of Mitford
I was rather disappointed in this promisingly hefty looking tome, as I had anticipated facts, substantiated by research, and objective information about the eccentric Mitfords - in fact, what one would expect from any usual work of non-fiction. Instead, it seems to be populated by reminiscences, impressions and not terribly interesting personal observations. Pervading throughout was a whiff of apologia, justification and vindication of the Mitfords' more controversial views. I think it would be difficult to write a pedestrian biography of the Mitfords, but this succeeds marvelously, to the point that I had to put it down, unfinished, as it simply did not grab.