The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family

Interesting biography of that day and age. Interesting information about inside information about the financial crises faced by a lot of supposed "well-to-do" families, and how important "image" was to them. I have a feeling that this book would appeal more to women and to men. The family tree included in the book is very helpful, too.

The Mitford clan was the epitome of old English gentry and minor aristocracy. The father of the sisters who are the subject of this book, DAVID MITFORD, 2nd Baron Redesdale, was related to Winston Churchill. Their mother, SYDNEY BOWLES MITFORD, came from a distinguished family.

NANCY (1904-1973) was the oldest and became a hugely successful writer of satirical fiction that poked savage fun at her own family and class.

PAMELA (1907-1994) was the most "normal" of the lot. She married and divorced a scientist, and was content to live quietly in the country.

DIANA (1910-2003) was one of the two most controversial sisters. Beautiful and charming, she was the muse of several artists in her teens, and married the heir to the Guinness brewing fortune when she was 18. She left him four years and two babies later and ran off with Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists and the most hated man in England. They remained devoted to each other for the rest of their lives, which made her the most hated woman in England. They were imprisoned for more than three years during the war but never wavered in their commitment to both fascism and each other.

UNITY VALKYRIE (1914-1948), known as "Boud" or "Bobo" to her sisters, was by far the most controversial sister. A striking Valkyrie-esque beauty, Unity, who was conceived during her parents' sojourn in the unfortunately-named town of Swastika, Canada, lived up to her karma by becoming obsessed with Nazism while in her teens. She managed to meet Hitler and become obsessed with her new friend and proudly wore her Hitler-signed swastika badge everywhere. When England and Germany declared war, she tried to commit suicide, but botched the job, shooting herself in the head but not killing herself. Incontinent and childlike, she lived in the care of her mother for another ten years.

JESSICA (1917-1996) "Decca" was probably the best-known of the sisters to American audiences. At the age of 18, already a committed Communist, she ran off with her black-sheep cousin Esmond Romilly, a nephew of Churchill's, to fight in the Spanish Civil War. After the British sent a battleship to fetch her home, the young Romillys went to the US where they tried to make a living as writers and bar-tenders before Esmond enlisted in the Canadian army. He was killed on a mission over the North Sea. Decca found a job with the American Communist party, moved to Oakland, remarried, had another child, and wrote several muck-raking books, of which "The American Way of Death" is the best known. The success of her books enabled her to leave her job with the Party, with which she had become disenchanted as the stories of Stalin's wretched excesses spread, but she remained a radical until she died.

DEBORAH (1920 -2004) Raised alone by her eccentric parents after her sibs had left the home, "Debo" was the mediator between her warring family, in which some one was always on "non-speakers" with someone else. Debo married Andrew Cavendish, second son of the Duke of Devonshire, whose older son and heir to the title, Billy, had married JFK's sister Kathleen. Billy died in the war a few months later and as soon as it was established that Kathleen wasn't pregnant, the title passed to Andrew, making Debo the Duchess. They inherited Cavendish, a huge estate, along with other properties, and she lived quietly there until her death, turning the estate into one of the major tourist attractions in England.

OK, that's the cast. There was also a son, but he gets short shrift, compared to his amazing sisters.

The book itself: The 22 chapters, ranging from 1894 to 2000, trace, in somewhat diminishing degrees of detail, the lives of this eccentric gang. The footnotes alone run to 46 pages. Lovell had free access to family papers and letters. There is also a 4-page bibliography and a 26-page index. There are also three sections of photographs.

The only complaint I have is that there is no real explanation of the forces that drove three of the sisters to commit their lives, in the face of overwhelming opposition and adversity, to the three most oppressive, repressive, and totalitarian forms of dictatorship known. We get a hint about Decca, who seems to have reacted in a knee-jerk way to Diana's involvement with Mosley and his Fascism and, at the behest of Esmond Romilly, comes to see her family as not only the symbol of all that is evil in the world, but also as the literal, actual cause of it. But Decca's eye-opening occurred before she met him, and that's the puzzle. And what drove Unity to immerse herself in Nazism? We never learn. Diana's commitment to Fascism is a little easier to understand. As the deb and then bride of the year, she lived an incredibly wealthy, social, and shallow life, and it wasn't until she met the dashing Mosley that she ever gave a thought to politics. So for her to follow the man she loved into the belly of a hated belief system isn't too surprising. She may have initially embraced fascism for the sake of Mosley and their relationship - understandable, if regrettable - but her steadfast commitment to it, which lasted until her death in 2003, is harder to comprehend.

Whether or not you agree with the beliefs they held, this was a fascinating group of people and the author does an excellent job of bringing them to believable life.

Insightful, almost too insightful. I could have done with an edited version but interesting all the same. Amazing how people can come from the same family and grow up in the same place and be completely differ t people with extremely opposing beliefs.

A very interesting biography of a fascinating group of sisters who knew everyone from the Churchills, to Hitler, the Kennedys and Mayah Angelou, and whose political ideologies spanned fascism to communism. My only criticism is that the author jumped around quite a bit, which made the individual stories hard to follow sometimes.

What a mess these six sisters were! But they lived life
to the hilt - some more successfully than the others.
Nancy seemed to be the most productive, Unity the
most confused, Deborah left with Chatsworth. A very
different sort of society.

Interesting saga with lots of facts about Hitlers Germany before the war and different opinions about him and his politics. Wery interesing saga about this families relations to each other, strong minded all of them, lots of drama. Recommend it.

Interesting historical context, but rather boring after a while. No soaring language. No riveting plot. No real theme except what it was like to be rich in England between the wars. Family not interesting enough to sustain a whole long book.

Keeping all of the activities of the sisters straight is a challenge that was met by the author in this very interestering biography. I gained an appreciation of their talents and the period in which they were all so active that I hadn't had before.

I have always enjoyed the history of how lives evolve in all types of societies and situations. This is interesting but seemed extensive in the explanations of the family tree and sometimes just to dry for my interest.

Very interesting. Kind of slow going at times, but still delightful. Whew! Did those girls get around. May be a good thing they pre-dated Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. They were able to get away with a lot considering the culture and mores of those days.

Yeah we get it. Hitler was nice. Hitler was charismatic. Hitler was handsome and elegant. Hitler was a sweetie pie. He was kind and decent and he paid for Unity's medical care and charmed Sydney Mitford. So it is understandable that the author would write (page 307), "it is curious that none of Hitler's many biographers has attempted to explain either the relationship or his many small kindnesses to Unity."

Because when talking about someone who gleefully managed to murder millions of people, start a world war and embody evil, of course one should focus on the fact that he was nice to two pretty but very poorly educated and rather stupid, upper class English girls. I'm sure Hitler biographers everywhere will be grateful to hear of their shortcomings in this area.

I only wish Jessica (by far the best Mitford sister) had been alive to savagely take this book apart herself. It was all I could personally do not to throw it against a wall.

THIS WAS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK -- VERY ENJOYABLE AND FURTHER QUENCHED MY THIRST FOR EVERYTHING ROYAL.
IT WAS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION AND I PLAN TO ADD IT TO MY HOME LIBRARY --THANK YOU! THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE ARBITER BOOK

I DID NOT READ MUCH OF THE MITFORD BOOK

This is an interesting book for several reasons. One, this is the biography of an English family, specifically focusing on the six sisters who were the “It Girls of their time. Two, it shows how these sisters used their adult years, albeit in very different ways. Three, it exposes their (some) of their questionable thinking. Say “hello” to Diana, Unity Valdyrie, Debo, Pan, Jessica (“Decca”), and Nancy. Brief mentions of brother Thomas is included.

What I found the most interesting is their communist/socialist/fascist leanings, particularly those of Diana (who had an unwavering admiration on Adolph Hitler), Decca, and Unity (who also had a thing for Hitler; she attempted to commit suicide when Britain declared war on Germany). Those two lives fascinated me more than the others for their admiration to almost no end for Hitler. Moreover, I continue to wonder what kind of hold Hitler had on women, specifically the ones who tried or succeeded in committing suicide over him, e.g. Geli Raubal (his half niece), Eva Braun (his Freundin and wife), and Unity Mitford (a subject in this biography).

As I stated earlier, this is an interesting book, although the writing is a bit dry. The black and white photographs are a good addition to an otherwise typical biography

The first half of the 20th Century, especially that period between the World Wars was marked by a war of ideological extremism.... Fascism vs. Communism. For those unfamiliar with the Mitford family they were an upper crust English family who's father, David (the 2nd Baron Redesdale), was a member of the House of Lords. He and his wife Sydney had six daughters and one son. Mary Lovell's book is a blended biography of the family with emphasis on the Sister's relationships to each other. This is a most dysfunctional family who could have lived charmed lives but for their self destructive personalities. Most of the family became intrigued with and supported Hitler and are mostly known for their pro-Fascist beliefs.

One sister, Unity, was obsessed with and had a multi-year relationship with Hitler seeing him over 140 times. This relationship and Hitler's behavior seem almost too unbelievable to be true. Unity, like the whole family was torn between loyalty to their own country, England and Hitler's Germany. Another sister, Diana, the most beautiful of the family married and divorced the heir to the Guinness fortune moving into an affair with and eventually marrying Sir. Oswald Mosley the leader of the English Fascists. They both were imprisoned during the Second World War. Another of the sisters ran away from home at 18 to become a Communist fighter in the Spanish Civil War and ended up in the United States to eventually become a surprised best selling author. And yet another Sister, the most famous, Nancy, also became a best selling critically acclaimed novelist.

All the while the clashing personalities of the Sisters smashed against their parent's relationship. The parents lives broke apart during the second world war over each holding different political loyalties with father, David being extremely anti-German and the mother, Sydney wanting a German (Hitler) victory.

Writing and organizing a book that combines so many events, personalities and attempts to define a social class and era had to be a monumental task and I think Lovell brings it off quite well. Several other the store reviews commented that they thought the book poorly written. I can't agree. The book is well organized and the actions and times truly amaze if you're not familiar with this family's story. There was no need for Lovell to embellish or over dramatize.

It does point out that the winners write the history. We think today of the greatest generation fighting WWII and that everyone was united against the great evil of Fascism and the Nazis. Lovell's Mitford family saga points out that many well to do British families were very anti-Communist and that fear of communism drove them to another ideology to oppose it, that being Fascism.

I am going to give the book a strong recommendation. Today when people are interested in the various Up stairs, Down stairs, Downton Abby TV series you have to think the incredible story of the Mitford's would be quite a sensation. But then you have to ask, would a mass audience accept characters that were on the wrong side of history and in many ways so self destructive?

I bought the hardcover version of this book at least a decade ago, trying to sort through the then-confusing list of infamous Mitford daughters. It was a busy period in my career, and I never got beyond the first chapter. From time to time, I wondered if I'd ever give it a second try. Finally, I picked it up and could not put it down. The diverse cast of sisters and other characters sorted themselves out, and obsessed me until I read straight through to the end.

The author did a very good job, I thought, of presenting the sisters and their parents accurately and fairly. At various stages in the book, one sister or another would become my favorite. I used the Internet to view more photos (although the book features a varied collection of the family at various stages) and sort through who was who until I could identify Decca from Debo (keeping nicknames straight was at first another challenge). The Mitford's had a brother, too, but he plays a minor role in the story, which was, after all, called "The Sisters" in the United States.

In-jokes, nicknames and their variations, internecine battles, and made-up languages helped create a cult of sorts within the family, and to latter-day Mitford cultists, all this has become familiar. "The Sisters" does an excellent job of taking the reader inside this complex and often frustrating family. I recommend using fan blogs (yes, they are legion) and Google to augment your knowledge of the Mitford family.

The reader may find it hard to side with any particular character. The author has done a good job showing - not telling, as my journalism profs used to say - the diverse personalities and allegiances of the entire family.

Sydney Bowles Mitford, Lady Redesdale, the family matriarch, comes across as the one stalwart who tries to hold the family together. Forget her crazy views on Hitler, if you can, and you will find that the woman who emerges is brave and steadfast. She was patient, tolerant and knew when to forget a slight or disappointment. That her daughters, for the most part, survived as well as they did is no small tribute to Sydney.

The book does not offer much analysis, which may leave readers wondering, as I did, how one family could produce a stalker Nazi, a charming fascist, a communist, a duchess, a farmer and a witty woman of letters. There is plenty of analyses to be found, and I suspect I am not finished with the Mitford family.

The first half of the 20th Century, especially that period between the World Wars was marked by a war of ideological extremism.... Fascism vs. Communism. For those unfamiliar with the Mitford family they were an upper crust English family who's father, David (the 2nd Baron Redesdale), was a member of the House of Lords. He and his wife Sydney had six daughters and one son. Mary Lovell's book is a blended biography of the family with emphasis on the Sister's relationships to each other. This is a most dysfunctional family who could have lived charmed lives but for their self destructive personalities. Most of the family became intrigued with and supported Hitler and are mostly known for their pro-Fascist beliefs.

One sister, Unity, was obsessed with and had a multi-year relationship with Hitler seeing him over 140 times. This relationship and Hitler's behavior seem almost too unbelievable to be true. Unity, like the whole family was torn between loyalty to their own country, England and Hitler's Germany. Another sister, Diana, the most beautiful of the family married and divorced the heir to the Guinness fortune moving into an affair with and eventually marrying Sir. Oswald Mosley the leader of the English Fascists. They both were imprisoned during the Second World War. Another of the sisters ran away from home at 18 to become a Communist fighter in the Spanish Civil War and ended up in the United States to eventually become a surprised best selling author. And yet another Sister, the most famous, Nancy, also became a best selling critically acclaimed novelist.

All the while the clashing personalities of the Sisters smashed against their parent's relationship. The parents lives broke apart during the second world war over each holding different political loyalties with father, David being extremely anti-German and the mother, Sydney wanting a German (Hitler) victory.

Writing and organizing a book that combines so many events, personalities and attempts to define a social class and era had to be a monumental task and I think Lovell brings it off quite well. Several other the store reviews commented that they thought the book poorly written. I can't agree. The book is well organized and the actions and times truly amaze if you're not familiar with this family's story. There was no need for Lovell to embellish or over dramatize.

It does point out that the winners write the history. We think today of the greatest generation fighting WWII and that everyone was united against the great evil of Fascism and the Nazis. Lovell's Mitford family saga points out that many well to do British families were very anti-Communist and that fear of communism drove them to another ideology to oppose it, that being Fascism.

I am going to give the book a strong recommendation. Today when people are interested in the various Up stairs, Down stairs, Downton Abby TV series you have to think the incredible story of the Mitford's would be quite a sensation. But then you have to ask, would a mass audience accept characters that were on the wrong side of history and in many ways so self destructive?

I bought the hardcover version of this book at least a decade ago, trying to sort through the then-confusing list of infamous Mitford daughters. It was a busy period in my career, and I never got beyond the first chapter. From time to time, I wondered if I'd ever give it a second try. Finally, I picked it up and could not put it down. The diverse cast of sisters and other characters sorted themselves out, and obsessed me until I read straight through to the end.

The author did a very good job, I thought, of presenting the sisters and their parents accurately and fairly. At various stages in the book, one sister or another would become my favorite. I used the Internet to view more photos (although the book features a varied collection of the family at various stages) and sort through who was who until I could identify Decca from Debo (keeping nicknames straight was at first another challenge). The Mitford's had a brother, too, but he plays a minor role in the story, which was, after all, called "The Sisters" in the United States.

In-jokes, nicknames and their variations, internecine battles, and made-up languages helped create a cult of sorts within the family, and to latter-day Mitford cultists, all this has become familiar. "The Sisters" does an excellent job of taking the reader inside this complex and often frustrating family. I recommend using fan blogs (yes, they are legion) and Google to augment your knowledge of the Mitford family.

The reader may find it hard to side with any particular character. The author has done a good job showing - not telling, as my journalism profs used to say - the diverse personalities and allegiances of the entire family.

Sydney Bowles Mitford, Lady Redesdale, the family matriarch, comes across as the one stalwart who tries to hold the family together. Forget her crazy views on Hitler, if you can, and you will find that the woman who emerges is brave and steadfast. She was patient, tolerant and knew when to forget a slight or disappointment. That her daughters, for the most part, survived as well as they did is no small tribute to Sydney.

The book does not offer much analysis, which may leave readers wondering, as I did, how one family could produce a stalker Nazi, a charming fascist, a communist, a duchess, a farmer and a witty woman of letters. There is plenty of analyses to be found, and I suspect I am not finished with the Mitford family.

I enjoyed Lovell's book and I suppose that should be the chief concern of reading a biography. Despite having read many different books about the remarkable family including many of their letter anthologies and Jessica and Nancy's books I discovered much new information about the fabulous Mitfords through this book.

What I particularly liked was a better understanding of Sydney and David or `Muv and Farve' who were truly fleshed out. Through this I was better able to see how they shaped and raised their remarkable daughters where previously they had appeared much like caricatures and one was left half expecting the girls' remarkable wit and intelligence to have simply skipped a generation. This wasn't the case, I found redeeming aspects of both though it was clear also to see their flaws as parents. Sydney I found so very faithful, fair and loyal towards her daughters. I found her story quite tragic really.

However, this book had some big problems. I must admit my bias, as much as I enjoy the Mitfords, as much as I find sympathy in Nancy, Debo, Pam, Diana and even Unity the only one of the sisters who truly admirable is Jessica. And the author disagrees with me. Despite the many charms of the other sisters a few things are undeniable- their snobbishness, their privilege and their absolute lack of understanding for how privileged they truly were. Add to that the reality of Diana and Unity's politics. It is completely undependable and disgusting.

Diana was incredibly beautiful, she was clever, witty and by all accounts incredibly charming, she wrote very well and I have enjoyed her writing, she also seems to have been very devoted and loving towards her family. But then there is her politics, and the fact she never renounced her beliefs, her admiration for Hitler or the policies of her husband, Mosley. I find myself wanting to defend her, I do understand what she meant by Hitler being fascinating and I understand that she was loyal to her husband, but then reality sets in. The reality of what she is truly saying, what she is really defending and I find that utterly irredeemable. The unfortunate thing is that Lovell does not. She defends Diana again and again, talks of Mosley's brilliance again and again, she defends Unity and comes dangerously, dangerously close to defending Nazism and Hitler. I wonder if she realizes she is doing this, I wonder if she truly believes it, I wonder if she fully understands the hideous scope of the atrocity she is defending. But it sent me reeling that a writer could defend such things.

The other huge problem is the way she treats Jessica- as if her communism is somehow equal to the fascist leanings of her sister. She goes so far as to indicate Jessica is a hypocrite criticizing fascism because of Stalin. WHERE does Decca ever defend Stalin or claim to be a Stalinist? She doesn't, that's blatantly untrue. She is incredibly unfair on Decca, Esmond and Bob the whole way through and it is very clear that she has been charmed by the surviving Mitfords and is being sure to write their story to their specifications. She underestimates Decca and Nancy again and again even though to the reader they are doubtlessly the most interesting and admirable of the sisters.

Never the less it is a gripping read and I enjoyed it. The Mitfords- every one of them- were fascinating, beautiful, smart, witty, and lived lives full of passion and conviction at all costs. This comes through fairly well in Lovell's work and it is a good companion piece for the Mitford addict. However, a new reader to Mitfordiana would be better starting with the phenomenal Hons and Rebels and Nancy's fictions before going to the anthology of the sisters' letters, because after all, no one tells the Mitford story as well as the Mitfords themselves.

This book was one of the most insightful biography of a family that i have ever read. In her introduction, she is clear about what she sets out to do and how.
Lovell's perception of the dynamics amongst the family members comes across very well. As another reviewer put it, her tone in the book invites you as a reader to come up with your own judgement of each - if at all.
Lovell makes them come alive and gives insight into their life style making it immediate. To me, this narrative style and refusal to judge with modern sensibilities makes it a classic.
All this together makes this a book a compelling read. I have read Nancy Mitford's fictional works, so the references to them throughout the book tied things together.
At the end of the book, you do start to identify and liking one sister over another (it is inevitable) for me, the most nuturing of them all - Pam & Debo - were the heart and hearth to this airy, delightful but at times eccentric and idealist family.

"The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family" tells the (true) story of the Mitford sisters, six beautiful and talented aristocratic young women who came of age in the interwar period.(There was a brother Tom who died during WWII. He does not play a major role in this book nor does it seem in their lives.)
These women lived, for the most part, amazing (though not admirable in all cases) lives: Nancy, the oldest, became a best selling novelist; Pamela, the "least interesting" (to the biographer and her family, though not necessarily the reader), lived a country life after a marriage to a brilliant man who married compulsively (six total); Diana, the society beauty, who left her husband for the fascist Oswald Mosley and who befriended Hitler; Unity, who became obsessed with Hitler and met him 140 times during a short period before WWII; Jessica, the rebel, who eloped at 18, became a communist, moved to the states, and became a best selling author on such topis as the funeral home industry; and Deborah, the youngest, who made the most brilliant marriage, to the future Duke of Devonshire.
This book details the eccentric but loving childhood of these sisters (though the father had murderous rages that seemed to have a lifelong impact on the children) and the diverse set of political causes and men that both brought them together and drove them apart over the years. Any book that affords the reader glimpses of Churchill as an uncle, Hitler as a "friend", Maya Angelou as an honorary "sister", is worth its price. Lovell presents her material in a straightforward manner. The book is thoroughly researched.
However, there are flaws. Lovell could probe further than she does into the psyches of the sisters. Three of them became obsessed with men in ways that bordered on the unhealthy and bizarre (Nancy had a lifelong infatuation for a count that would never marry her, the beautiful Diana dedicated her life to the unfaithful Mosley, and Unity's fixation on Hitler was downright psychotic.) And she lets Diana off the hook a bit too easily for her fascist and pro-Hitler views (Diana never repented.) She seems somewhat bewitched by Diana's external beauty-she met her at the age of 90--and doesn't focuse on the fact that it was external. (As obituary writers did this past summer after her death in August.)
Still it is a great read particularly for those fascinated by the British upper classes between the two wars.

I have always been interested in reading more about the Mitfords and, given that I am from the U.S. and far too young to remember any of the family's political antics, I am less concerned with whether a book is an apologia for one or another set of political beliefs than some other readers might be. Given that the sisters took up extreme positions at opposing ends of the political spectrum (on the one hand, Diana, the wife of England's leading fascist and Unity, the "Hitler groupie"; on the other hand, Decca, the "parlor pink" who married, in turn, a Communist and a Jew), the author faces a difficult balancing act in trying to devote equal time and analysis to all. As anyone who comes from a large family knows, siblings have a way of remembering the same incidents completely differently and this book suffers from a lot of conflicting viewpoints with, seemingly, no apparent way to get at the truth without alienating one or more of its subjects. It appears that the author was very dependent on the cooperation of the surviving Mitfords to write this book as it does seem in places like the book is pandering to one sister or the other, particularly Diana who comes off as near-saintly despite her questionable personal life and political views.

I also wish that more space had been devoted to the life of Nancy, the author, and the Mitford son who died in military service and seems in hindsight to have been nearly forgotten by history. As both passed away before the book was written, one might think that the author's focus would naturally be on the living family members, except that the author dwells at great length on the long-dead Unity's chummy relations with Hitler and the related fascist escapades of her sister Diana. I think Nancy was a much more interesting person than Unity overall and was disappointed at the lack of details about Nancy's life aside from references to her unhappy marriage and her love affairs. However, the book was still filled with interesting details and enjoyable to read, even if the focus was a bit uneven.

This biography of the Mitford sisters stands up nicely to the family-sanctioned House of Mitford by the Guinness's. Here the emphasis is not so much on the delightful eccentricities of the Radfords and family, chubb clubbing et al, but on the various and extreme ways in which these children of minor aristrocracy and great precocity diverged from their intended paths. Here we see Nancy not just as the author of rather light-weight novels, but also as a serious historian and important woman of letters. Unity's relationship with Hitler is fleshed out, bringing forth real evidence of her love and devotion to not only the man, but also his cause. Decca (Jessica) gets more notice here, both as a rather naive communist during the 20s and 30s, but also as a chronicler of the social mores of American life and death. Debo, still today the Duchess of Devonshire, beautiful and determined, tries to hold the center while yet another sister Pamela leads a more conventional life. Even more notorious than Unity's infatuation with Hitler and subsequent sucide attempt, was Diana, married to the leader of Britain's Fascist party, Oswald Mosely, with whom she spend several years in jail during WWII. These beautiful, brilliant, individuals are each given their due, and not eclipsed by Nancy, the most pubic of them. This is a fine book for lovers of the Mitfords, for they are so curious, so peculiar and so varied, that one must either despise them for their obvious wrong-headedness, or love them madly despite it all. As the Mitford girls themselves would say, "Do admit. It is lovely to be lovely one." Still and all, the best source of biographical information on this fascinating family are their own writings, particularly Nancy's "Love in a Cold Climate" and "The Pursiut of Love," and Jessica's "Hons and Rebels." The Mitfords get fair treatment here, even if it does make them seem just a shade duller than they were, or than we want them to have been.

'I love the Mitford sisters for their sins,' volunteered a voice on phone-in radio. Debo Mitford learned in 1937 that her sister Unity was smitten with Adolph Hitler. Unity sent der Fuhrer an invitation to her wedding, to be held in the office of a reluctant Goring. Obliging Adolph happily left his duties and trotted along.
Hitler and Unity managed, in all, 140 get-togethers. She felt so strongly in agreement with der Fuhrer that she wrote Churchill (a relative) to lay off his fierce speeches in British Parliament attacking Adolph. In Germany she published a newspaper hate-article denouncing all Jews. It endeared her to the Nazi party, as was Unity's intention.
When war broke out with Germany, Unity was so upset with people misunderstanding her sweet petty-pie, that she attempted suicide. She appears the most eccentric of the six clever, talented (four were writers,) and beautiful sisters. Their collective politics, however, amounted to a bouillabaisse with fish hooks in it.
Jessica became a Communist. For her outspoken Fascism, Diana was stuffed in jail. Nancy (the eldest) and Jessica churned out best-selling novels; two of these appeared recently in TV adaptations.
There are a generous 24 pages of black and white photographs included in the book. Many of these are dour, especially considering that the sisters were known for their humour. Even the family portrait (photo #24) is severe, and Decca (who later eloped) is an unhappy debutante in her photo, #37.
Mary S. Lovell's splendid biography is the definitive saga of this famous family that gripped the English nation for several decades sins and all.

The Sisters is a multigenerational story of one of the most dazzlingly complex families ever to grace the pages of Burke's Peerage. The seven children of the second Lord Redesdale were raised in a fairly conventional upper class British manner, with servants and governesses. As five of the six daughters emerged into adulthood, she found quickly found fame (or notoriety). Nancy became a gifted novelist, essayist, and biographer; Diana started as a society hostess and ended as wife of one of the most controversial men in British politics and as an undaunted Hitler apologist; Unity went even further by becoming a Hitler acolyte who shot herself when World War II broke out; Jessica (Decca)also entered politics by becoming a passionate Communist and later a gifted social critic and muckraker; Deborah (Debo) was slightly more traditional in that she became a Duchess and chatelaine of one of England's grandest country houses. Only the second daugher Pam lived a retiring life, and the only son Tom's career was cut short by his death in World War II.
The Sisters is a good introduction to the Mitfords if you aren't familiar with them. Even if you are a long time Mitford aficionado it's a valuable read because it covers all the sisters without favoring or slighting any. This balanced look at the Mitfords will stand out because so much of what has been written about them is biased towards/against one or more of the sisters. Mary Lovell spent a lot of time untangling the real family history, which is important because so much of the sisters' stories has gotten entangled with Nancy's fictional Radletts (from "The Pursuit of Love" and "Love in a Cold Climate") and with Jessica's imaginative memoir "Hons and Rebels".
By the time you finish the book you will be quite fond of all of the sisters and their extended family, and thanks to Ms. Lovell's inclusion of information on their descendants, you will feel like a friend who has known the family for two or three generations.

The Sisters is a long (530 pages) group biography of the Mitford siblings. The Mitfords were an aristocratic English family whose triumphs, tragedies and politcal passions make for fascinating reading.
Sydney Bowles married David Freeman Mitford in the Edwardian era. Mitford had served in the Boer War and would later be wounded in World War I. He loved to hunt, fish and enjoy country activities. David was a member of the House of Lords; a man who could explode in anger but who was, nevertheless, a loving father. his wife Syndey was colder in personality but also loved her large family. The Mitford Children were:

Nancy-She was the eldest daughter whose husband left her for another woman. Nancy was a popular novelist and writer known for her wit as a bright young thing in the 192o's-30's. Her great love was Gaston Paleweski, a French governmental offical, who never married her. Her most famous novels are "The Pursuit of Love" and "Love in a Cold Climate." She spent most of her life living and working in Paris.

Pam was married to a brilliant scientist Brian Jackson., She had earlier been courted by John Betjeman the famous British poet laureate. She was one of the lesser known of the siblings. She loved country pastimes and avoided the spotlight.

Jessica was perhaps the most famous of the sisters. She was a Communist who fought in the Spanish Civil War. (she later renounced her party membership). Jessica never forgave her sister Diana for her fascists beliefs. She was the author of "The American Way of Death" and "The American Way of Life.' She spent a good deal of her life living in the Oakland area and became an American citizen. Her second husband was a Jewish lawyer. She was the most left wing of the sisters.

Diana was the wife of the notorious Oswald Mosley. Mosley founded the British Fascist Party and was in sympathy with the Nazis. He and Diana were imprisoned for 31/2 years during World War II. Diana was a beautiful woman but her political beliefs were in accord with Nazi beliefs. She admitted to being a friend of Hitler.

Unity was smitten with Nazi Party beliefs. Hitler was her idol and she lived in Munich for several years. She was a confidant and friend of the Fuhrer. She attempted suicide by a gunshot wound to the head at the beginning of World War II. The attempt failed; she died a shell of her former self in 1948.

Deborah was married to The Duke of Devonshire. She is most noted for her renovation and maintenance of their great home Chatsworth. Her husband's brother Billy was engaged to Kathleen Kennedy of the famous American Kennedy Clan.

Tom was the only Mitford son. He was also an admirer of Hiter. He was killed during World War II.

The Mitfords were certainly far from perfect! Extreme politcal beliefs, racial prejudice and cruelty to one another all are evident in their story. They were also a great family producing novelists and intellectuals who have made important contributions to the progress of the human story.

The Mitfords were related to the Winston Churchill family and knew many of the leading authors and politicians of their time. Consider that Diana knew both Hitler and Churchill as friends! People such as Evelyn Waugh, Maya Angelous and luminaries in the British upper classes stride throught the book's pages.

Mary S. Lovell's book is detailed and objective in reporting the activities of the Mitfords. It is an excellent book shedding light on British society in the twentieth century and the interactions among a family of gifted individuals.

Mary Lovell's interesting book on the Mitford sisters (and on Tom, the ill-fated brother) is a guilty pleasure indeed. Lovell has a completely new take on things that urges us to find Diana Mosley a brave 20th century heroine who fought for what she believed in and whose imprisonment during the first part of World War II was a shocking act of injustice comparable to the internment of Japanese-Americans in prison camps in the USA. Revisionist much? Yes, indeed, and that's part of its fascination. Lovell seems most determined to set on its ear David Pryce-Jones' biography of Unity Mitford. Unity, the tortured British Nazi who set her cap on the biggest Nazi of them all, Adolf Hitler, here emerges as the funniest and cutest of all the funny and cute sisters. Yes, Lovell admits, she should not have laughed when Hitler boasted of forcing a party of Jews to cut a sward of German lawn with their teeth alone--that was cruel and unMitfordlike. But outside of that, did Unity really do any actual harm? Lovell says no.

Meanwhile there is a continual hum of approval for Debo, Duchess of Devonshire, and her substantial work keeping together her husband's ancestral estates. For Lovell, preservation work of a zillionaire's estate merits the highest commendation.

Decca (Jessica) Mitford, comes off the worst, and her elopement with Spanish Civil War buff, and her first cousin, Edmond Romilly, shows how unfeeling she was to her mother and father, and she stayed a Communist for years and years (until 1958) when she should have abjured the party years ago. Well, she should never have joined up in the first place.

Many reviewers praise Lovell's evenhandedness and lack of judgement, but I haven't seen a trace of an even hand. In one telling passage Decca is stuck overnight in an Alabama church with Martin Luther King Jr, while Ku Klux Klan and 1,500 other white protestors surround the church with tear gas. "The uproar," Lovell writes, "had been caused by the surprise appearance at the event of the Freedom Fighters, a sort of flying squad pf black youths on motorcycles, who were much feared by whites in the Southern states." Oh so that's why it happened, eh? Why not just say, "The uproar has been caused by racism"? That's shorter and much more on point than your ridiculous "Freedom Fighter" excuse.

Debo and Pam aren't in the book that much, and Pam is like the invisible woman. When she goes gay ("she's become a you-know-what-bian," Decca writes to her husband) Lovell makes absolutely no comment, though she analyzes every little variation on the Mitfords' uncountable family nicknames. It's obviously not important to her, but it leaves the reader thinking, well, Pam is really a bore, which is terribly unfair to Pam (she whom her sisters called, "Woman," for she was the best of all of them) who deserves a biography of her own, one in which the biographer didn't wish her away with a "well done, Pam" from time to time.

That said, the book is like a big box of delicious candy and you just can't stop eating it till all of the sisters die (but one) and we are left contemplating the terrible, wonderful legacy of an aristocracy who could do whatever they pleased and managed to get it wrong 95 per cent of the time, empty candy wrappers scattering in the breeze. I loved it, pretty much.

Mary S. Lovell made a wise decision when she took up her pen and joined the Mitford industry. The Sisters (The Saga of the Mitford Family) is a truly fascinating and endlessly engaging book. And there was no way it could not be with those crazy Mitfords: Nancy, Jessica, Debo, Diana, Pam and, of course, the very tragic Unity Valkyrie, conceived at Swastika Canada and devoted friend of Hitler. The story of these sisters spans the twentienth century and travels all over the political spectrum. The author shows her own conservative bias clearly throughout and was obviousaly charmed by Diana Mosely (nee Mitford), the still living wife of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Fascists during the interwar years. But her prejudices and political naivete (the author's suggestion that World War II could possibly have been avoided if Diana just brought Hitler and Churchill, a relative of hers, together is quite silly and should have been edited out) are so apparent that one can enjoy the book regardless. The portrayal of the mother of the girls, Sydney, is the most interesting to come along of her. A wonderful, delightful read of six powerfully individual women.

The Mitfords were an aristocratic but not very wealthy English family. The family was so dominated in the early 20th century by six sisters that it's easy to overlook that there was also a son among the siblings. Perhaps it was the upper class rural isolation in which the children were raised that made several of them so headstrong, eccentric, and well over the top.

A biographer just couldn't make up this material. We have a Hitler-loving Nazi sympathizer, a Communist freedom fighter, a talented novelist, a sister who leaves her husband to marry the leader of the British fascist party, and a duchess.

The lives of several sisters are played out in public view, and the British press couldn't get enough of the pretty Mitford girls. The surprise is that one or two of the children have led reasonably "normal" lives.

The poor father, the publicity-shy Lord Redesdale, is overwhelmed by his children's behavior and spends a lot of time in the Canadian wilderness digging for gold.

The family story is told with the cooperation of the last surviving sister, Deborah, who became the Duchess of Devonshire. The author respected Deborah's wish that the author be reasonably respectful of the family members.

This restriction has a beneficial effect on the telling of the story. The book is devoid of cheap shots and amateur psychoanalysis. The facts themselves are sensational enough.

But the author is also prevented by this constraint from delving into the character of the father, Lord Redesdale. The facts related in the story suggest to this amateur psychoanalyst that in addition to being an eccentric, he was somewhat unbalanced.

Anyone who has been mortified by their own eccentric and embarassing family will enjoy seeing that it could be worse.

They have to be real; they are too improbable for fiction. If the sisters had been born a few generations later, their faces would be as familiar to us as Princess Diana and their lifestyles would be the joy of "People" magazine. Even in the pre-tabloid days, they managed to corner an ocean of newsprint. Any one of the six sisters and their parents merit and have had individual biographies. Put them all together in one book whets the reader's appetite for more.
Lord and Lady Redesdale had to be and were larger than life to produce their remarkable brood. Lady Redesdale (Sydney), as a young woman looks for all the world like an Edwardian Angelina Jolie. She was a calm, devoted mother with the sang froid of royalty. Lord Redesdale (David) was a ruggedly handsome, wildly eccentric, totally English Lord. He and his entire family lived around and through his volcanic rages. He could truly be called a tyrant with a heart of a bon bon. His daughters' suitors were "Sewers," and he didn't believe in more than rudimentary education for women causing life-long bitterness in daughters Nancy and Jessica. Though the family (and Ms. Lovell) insists it was a "game," Lord R. would set his bloodhound on his daughters to find them when they rambled the huge estate.
All of the sisters were beautiful. I realize this is an overworked word, but in their cases, it was amazingly true-not one ugly duckling in the bunch. All except Nancy inherited their father's blazing blue eyes and their mother's lovely golden hair. Nancy was a green-eyed brunette, elegant as a greyhound. All had innate writing ability, and Nancy and Jessica were extraordinarily successful authors; Nancy with novels and biographies ("Love in a Cold Climate") and Jessica more the journalist ("An American way of Death").
Diana, the great beauty, first married a Guinness heir and then abandoned him for the love of her life, fascist and greatly hated Sir Oswald Mosley. She and her husband spent three years during World War II in prison as traitors. Strange Unity developed a fixation on Adolph Hitler and fascism. She announced she would kill herself if war broke out between her beloved England and Germany. When that event occurred, Unity shot herself in the head and tragically lived, mentally impaired for another six years. Jessica (Decca), the fieriest of the girls, started her "Running Away" fund when she was eight years old. When she was 19, she eloped with Winston Churchill's nephew (age 17) to serve with the Communist revolutionaries in Spain. Heads of State searched frantically for the youngsters, and when they were found, Jessica prevailed. Pamela was always labeled the "quiet" one; she loved the country and horses, married a brilliant man and remained excellent friends with him even after they were divorced and he subsequently married five more times. Deborah (Debo), most like her mother, calm and gracious became the grandest lady of them all, the Duchess of Devonshire.
Ms. Lovell's scholarship and research are impeccable and she writes in a very lively, but even-toned manner. I felt a little too much space was awarded Jessica; I would have liked Nancy to have equal time. Deborah was very discreetly handled; perhaps because she was still living at the time the book was written and had strong opinions (and probably control) of what was written. It is rare that a biography is termed a "page-turner," but that is exactly what "The Sisters" is. Very enjoyable.
-sweetmolly-

The Mitfords - six sisters, their brother and two parents make for fascinating reading and there have been a few biographies, autobiographies and of course the semi-autobiographical novels of Nancy which have managed to fuel the publics desire to hear more. Lovell's biography of the family is more than just the most recent book. It makes use of all the sisters letters and notes (access hasn't always been allowed in the past - especially to Decca's private papers) and it also helps to shed light on the positives and negatives of all the works which have been published in the Mitford collection.
Lovell , whose work I very much admire, has the art of discussing with judging - either her subjects or their previous biographers. I feel she leaves the judgement to the reader to make, and in this case it is a very good thing. The Mitford family had a very controversial set of characters. Nancy with her 'teases' was perhaps the most outrageous within the family, but publically there was the divorce of Diana in the 1930's followed by her seemingly long affair with Moseley (the leader of the British Fascists) and her later marriage and unapologetic support for him and their cause. Unity Mitford is famous, or should I say infamous, for her long friendship with Hitler. Decca ran away from home with her cousin at the age of about 18 and went to Spain to support the Communists in the Spanish Civil War of 1936. She later married her cousin Esmond and went to live in America where she remained very much cut off from her family - mostly it seems for reasons of her own. The other two sisters, Pamela and Debo led quieter lives and in Debo's case only marginally less interesting. All in all the girls were just fascinating indeed.
Lovell starts her book with a brief summary of what isn't going to be in it. The introduction covers the material which has been done before (try the biography by Jonathon Guiness, Diana's son, if you want to read more on this) and then the material which _will_ be in it. Much of the book is rehashed to some extent - well it has to be doesn't it as there is only so much new material and much of the old stuff is just as interesting. It also needs to be there to shed light on the new material which Lovell includes later. Each chapter is done in date order so all the sisters are followed up in each section, although for obvious reasons some are mentioned more than others - for instance, Unity dominates the early thirties, Decca, the later thirties,
This new material includes the use of Decca's papers and letters, and much of this is made use of in the latter portion of the book. Whereas there seems to be very little about Debo, the Duchess of Devonshire or Pamela the quiet 'rural' Mitford. I suppose with the Duchess still alive there might be problems with using too much material on her or maybe, like Pamela there is not that much controversial which would make it interesting. Nevertheles, what is used is well worth it as it gives insight into the problems the landowning peers had in the 1930's with death taxes and inheritance.
If nothing else this family is deadly funny. Nancy showed that in her novels Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate ( and her other novels of course but those two really are her very best work). The family seem to have an inordinate amount of charm, shart intellegence and wit which was present from their childhood. Despite none of them having more than a cursory formal education, they were taught by a series of governesses with varying levels of commitment (one spent the whole time teaching them to play a card game called Racing Demon) - they all seemed to have taken on very formidable careers and excelled at them.
Lovell is unable to show quite why they all excelled as they did - perhaps it was all hereditary as they had exceptional grandparents - but she certainly does expose a very talented family and a funny one. This book is a wonderfully easy read about a wonderfully funny interetsting family.