Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10576 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-03
• Binding: Hardcover
• 832 pages

The Tablet
'[Mosley] provides the reader with much needed context and lets some fresh air into the claustrophobic, overheated atmosphere.'

J. K. Rowling
'The story of the extraordinary Mitford sisters has never been told as well as they tell it themselves.'

Telegraph
'...a thrilling and moving, funny and serious book...one wonders if there will ever again be such a luminous correspondence.'

Customer Reviews

A wonderful read
Having read and adored a number of Mitford biographies and a number of the books written by the sisters themselves I was truly excited to receive this at Christmas.

I loved every word of this book - Charlotte Mosley's erudite and fair narration and moreover the words of the sisters.

It certainly gives one pause for thought about Hitler, and or course about Diana and Oswald Mosley.

I would recommend this to anyone who has sisters, anyone who has an interest in the history of the 20th century - (if just to see how an inordinate number of different characters from the twenteith century link up from Betjeman to Hitler to Lucian Freud to Cecil Beaton to Churchill) and indeed to anyone interested in understanding human relationships.

My favourite Mitford character without a doubt is the mis-understood Muv - what incredible unfaltering loyalty. A true inspiration.

six sisters in search of an editor
No book can possibly capture the incomparable story of the Mitford sisters better than they can tell it themselves. From society scandal to family tragedy, from one ideological extreme to another, this masterfully edited volume conveys every aspect of this fascinatingly complex clan and the era in which they lived and squabbled. Capable of intense loyalty and unpardonable betrayal, the Mitford sisters were above all masters of the arcane nickname, private jokes that are at times caustic, at others affectionate and touching. The childish and precocious banter, the patter of an informal, often fraught, discussion, like a late night conversation in six voices, broadcast over long distances and with much to be read between the lines, is what gives this book so much of its charm and import. It's like reading a history of the most traumatic events of the 20th century with concise, pithy commentary, punctuated by humorous asides, conducted by literate narrators pathologically unafraid of the big issues. Mosley's touch is deft; the introductory passages to each section could stand alone, and yet remain a model of editorial restraint. Like an assured chef d'orchestre, her selection allows the sisters speak for themselves, drawing out themes without sacrificing each unique strand or its counterpoint. This book is a perfect primer to, and an endlessly amusing psychological portrait of one of the most exasperating and alluring families of the modern era.

This Book is fab!
I loved this book but there are some errors in relation to the photos- Joan Kennedy is described as Eunice in the snap with Ted Kennedy. Anyone who loves the Mitfords will love this.