Status
Available
Publication
Holt, Rinehart, and Winston (1981), Edition: 1st owl book ed, Paperback, 284 pages
Description
"Jessica Mitford, the great muckraking journalist, was part of a legendary English aristocratic family. Her sisters included Nancy, doyenne of the 1920s London smart set and a noted novelist and biographer; Diana, wife to the English fascist chief Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, who fell head over heels in love with Hitler; and Deborah, later the Duchess of Devonshire. Jessica swung left and moved to America, where she took part in the civil rights movement and wrote her classic expose of the undertaking business, The American Way of Death." "Hons and Rebels is the tale of Mitford's upbringing. Mitford found her family's world as smothering as it was singular and, determined to escape it, she eloped with Esmond Romilly, Churchill's nephew, to go fight in the Spanish Civil Wr. The ensuing scandal, in which a British destroyer was dispatched to recover the two truants, inspires some of Mitford's funniest, and most pointed, pages." "A family portrait, a tale of youthful folly and high-spirited adventure, a study in social history, a love story, Hons and Rebels is a contribution to the autobiographer's art."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member richardderus
I fastened on this at a liberry sale I went to recently, remembering that some fellow LTer was on a Mitford Girls kick. I was inspired to buy it by its ten cent price and also its ghastly, 60s-Penguin "artwork" cover. I like that it says "3/6" for a price, so exotic and incomprehensible. And also,
Oh, the joys of being in a master's hands. Mitford dashes off, apparently effortlessly, sketches of her bizarre family, never straying into hatefulness even where antipathy exists. Her completely unconventional upbringing wuth a mother who refused to vaccinate her (a decision with a horrible, tragic cost later: Mitford contracted measles and gave them to her newborn daughter, who died as a result), contending that "the Good Body" knew its stuff, and a father whose major occupations appear to have been shouting and stomping and campaigning for Conservative politicians. Her wildly disparate sisters, novelist Nancy as the eldest and the most remote from Jessica; Diana, the great beauty and future Fascist; and Unity, the tragic figure of the family, a giant Valkyrie (ironically enough, this is also her middle name!) with an outsized personality to match, whose horrible fate was to try unsuccessfully to kill herself when her beloved Nazi Germany made war on her homeland. (The other sisters, Pam and Deborah, pretty much don't figure into Jessica's life, and her brother Tom was so much older he was more of a visiting uncle.)
So Jessica tells us the tale of someone born into privilege, luxury, and uselessness, who finds all of these qualities completely intolerable and who cannot, cannot, cannot endure the idea of the life that is laid out before her. She doesn't know what she believes, but she's sure it's not what her family believes.
I fell in love with her right then and there. I felt the same way. Jesus, racism, and conservative politics made me nauseated, as they did my eldest sister.
So Jessica Mitford, Girl Rebel, looks for a way out: Her cousin Esmond, a professional rebel with a published book and a troublemaking newspaper founded and run before he was 16, fit the bill. She spends a year finagling an introduction to him, suprisingly difficult because she's so sheltered and he's so disreputable; but once it happens, it was the proverbial match to gas!
I adored Esmond as much as Jessica did, and I adored Jessica as much as Esmond did. I cried when they lost their first daughter so unnecessarily; I cheered when they got to own that bar in Miami; I sat numbed by the enormity of Jessica's loss when Esmond died when he was 23, fighting against the Fascists he'd hated all his life, whether Spanish, English, or German.
I am so glad that I finally read this book that's as old as I am, being published in 1960. (My copy isn't that old, it dates from 1962.) It's very instructive to be reminded that youth isn't necessarily wasted on the young.
If you take my advice, you'll read it to experience the joys and sorrows of youth one more time, from a safe distance; but the stakes remain high, because the storyteller is so talented.
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The American Way of Death made a **huge** impression on me as a boy, so I wanted to know more about Miss Mitford.Oh, the joys of being in a master's hands. Mitford dashes off, apparently effortlessly, sketches of her bizarre family, never straying into hatefulness even where antipathy exists. Her completely unconventional upbringing wuth a mother who refused to vaccinate her (a decision with a horrible, tragic cost later: Mitford contracted measles and gave them to her newborn daughter, who died as a result), contending that "the Good Body" knew its stuff, and a father whose major occupations appear to have been shouting and stomping and campaigning for Conservative politicians. Her wildly disparate sisters, novelist Nancy as the eldest and the most remote from Jessica; Diana, the great beauty and future Fascist; and Unity, the tragic figure of the family, a giant Valkyrie (ironically enough, this is also her middle name!) with an outsized personality to match, whose horrible fate was to try unsuccessfully to kill herself when her beloved Nazi Germany made war on her homeland. (The other sisters, Pam and Deborah, pretty much don't figure into Jessica's life, and her brother Tom was so much older he was more of a visiting uncle.)
So Jessica tells us the tale of someone born into privilege, luxury, and uselessness, who finds all of these qualities completely intolerable and who cannot, cannot, cannot endure the idea of the life that is laid out before her. She doesn't know what she believes, but she's sure it's not what her family believes.
I fell in love with her right then and there. I felt the same way. Jesus, racism, and conservative politics made me nauseated, as they did my eldest sister.
So Jessica Mitford, Girl Rebel, looks for a way out: Her cousin Esmond, a professional rebel with a published book and a troublemaking newspaper founded and run before he was 16, fit the bill. She spends a year finagling an introduction to him, suprisingly difficult because she's so sheltered and he's so disreputable; but once it happens, it was the proverbial match to gas!
I adored Esmond as much as Jessica did, and I adored Jessica as much as Esmond did. I cried when they lost their first daughter so unnecessarily; I cheered when they got to own that bar in Miami; I sat numbed by the enormity of Jessica's loss when Esmond died when he was 23, fighting against the Fascists he'd hated all his life, whether Spanish, English, or German.
I am so glad that I finally read this book that's as old as I am, being published in 1960. (My copy isn't that old, it dates from 1962.) It's very instructive to be reminded that youth isn't necessarily wasted on the young.
If you take my advice, you'll read it to experience the joys and sorrows of youth one more time, from a safe distance; but the stakes remain high, because the storyteller is so talented.
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LibraryThing member experimentalis
brilliant style, addictive humour, moving, enlightening. One of the very best memoirs on interwar and ww2. And not at all "politically naive", just decent.
LibraryThing member elliepotten
This is a fantastic autobiography. It begins with Jessica’s early years at home with her family, the eccentric Mitfords. Every character comes vividly to life under her pen – her sardonic mother and fiery father, and each of her larger-than-life sisters: witty Nancy, headstrong Diana,
Jessica successfully carries the reader through into the days when this eccentricity becomes something more ominous and oppressive. She strongly questions her family’s devoted loyalty to Conservatism, Fascism and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, instead feeling very much on the side of liberal Communism.
She runs away to the war against Franco in Spain with her spirited cousin Esmond, whom she later marries. Their exploits in France, Spain and America, living a hand-to-mouth existence and taking every lucky opportunity, make up the rest of the book, with witty and lively character portraits interspersed with poignant remembrance of her family and deep, educational discussion of politics.
Despite the heavy presences of war and politics, the book is never weighed down, though there was always a sadness in my mind that Esmond was killed shortly after the experiences detailed here. The four photos helped bring these experiences to life and allowed the reader to put names to the faces they must surely come to admire and love throughout the course of Jessica’s tale. Highly recommended.
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conservative Pam, Hitler-obsessed Unity, romantic and wistful Deborah – and their often-overlooked brother Tom. Such strong and entertaining personalities make for hilarious reading.Jessica successfully carries the reader through into the days when this eccentricity becomes something more ominous and oppressive. She strongly questions her family’s devoted loyalty to Conservatism, Fascism and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, instead feeling very much on the side of liberal Communism.
She runs away to the war against Franco in Spain with her spirited cousin Esmond, whom she later marries. Their exploits in France, Spain and America, living a hand-to-mouth existence and taking every lucky opportunity, make up the rest of the book, with witty and lively character portraits interspersed with poignant remembrance of her family and deep, educational discussion of politics.
Despite the heavy presences of war and politics, the book is never weighed down, though there was always a sadness in my mind that Esmond was killed shortly after the experiences detailed here. The four photos helped bring these experiences to life and allowed the reader to put names to the faces they must surely come to admire and love throughout the course of Jessica’s tale. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Marensr
One could not write fiction that contains the members of the Mitford clan and make it seem believable.
Jessica (Decca) Mitford, author of this autobiography of herself and her family, creates a very funny portrait of her famous and eccentric family. Raised with little formal education the children
Her elder sister, Nancy, was a well-known novelist. Another sister married a prominent British Fascist, a third, the aptly named Unity Valkyrie, was an ardent Nazi and hung out with the inner circle of the Nazi regime.
Decca in rebellion against her at best conservative and at worst fascist beliefs of most of her family members becomes a support of labor and a reader of communist texts.
She elopes with Winston Churchill's nephew, Esmond Romilly to join the Spanish fight against Franco and a British destroyer is indeed sent to attempt to reclaim them.
While always engaging, the autobiography feels oddly truncated. It stops after Esmond’s enlistment in the Canadian Air Force at the start of World War II and mentions nothing of her life after his death or her work in the American Civil Rights movement. Also, certain family members are seldom mentioned.
Nonetheless, it was a fascinating read and for fans of Nancy's novels or those who have read other biographies of the Mitfords it will be an enjoyable read. I suspect those not familiar with the family would not enjoy it as much.
Jessica (Decca) Mitford, author of this autobiography of herself and her family, creates a very funny portrait of her famous and eccentric family. Raised with little formal education the children
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developed their own language and vivid childhood games yet took widely divergent paths in adulthood. Her elder sister, Nancy, was a well-known novelist. Another sister married a prominent British Fascist, a third, the aptly named Unity Valkyrie, was an ardent Nazi and hung out with the inner circle of the Nazi regime.
Decca in rebellion against her at best conservative and at worst fascist beliefs of most of her family members becomes a support of labor and a reader of communist texts.
She elopes with Winston Churchill's nephew, Esmond Romilly to join the Spanish fight against Franco and a British destroyer is indeed sent to attempt to reclaim them.
While always engaging, the autobiography feels oddly truncated. It stops after Esmond’s enlistment in the Canadian Air Force at the start of World War II and mentions nothing of her life after his death or her work in the American Civil Rights movement. Also, certain family members are seldom mentioned.
Nonetheless, it was a fascinating read and for fans of Nancy's novels or those who have read other biographies of the Mitfords it will be an enjoyable read. I suspect those not familiar with the family would not enjoy it as much.
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LibraryThing member Jaylia3
Though she was born into a wonderfully eccentric upper class English family, Jessica Mitford was set on escaping--she started a "running away" savings account at Drummond's Bank in London when she was twelve. At nineteen she eloped with her rebel cousin and they ran away together to the Spanish
It's hard not to be captivated by this memoir--Jessica Mitford stopped at nothing to follow her dreams, and so is simultaneously both inspiring and shocking. She was smart and funny, but seemed to give little thought to how her out of bounds actions and petty larcenies would affect others. Her sisters took issue with some of her facts, and there is a too-good-to-be true quality to parts of the book that's completely forgivable because without them the book wouldn't be as lively or fun. It's maybe telling that, as Jessica reports, her husband regaled some their new American friends with truth-embellished versions of their adventures--to improve the stories, she says.
There is a fascinating inner reflection in the last few pages where Jessica admits that though she and her young husband, Esmond Romily, believed they were entirely "self-made", free agents who had totally escaped any taint of their English aristocratic upbringing, their impatience, carefree intransigence, and supreme self-confidence could be easily traced to their backgrounds.
Jessica Mitford ends this mainly happy book before her husband dies while fighting in World War Two. The book is also called Hons and Rebels. A great read.
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Civil War--an event that was Huge Big News at the time. Two of her sisters were friends with Hitler, and on hearing what Jessica had done even the poster child for evil was scandalized. (Well, that might have had something to do with her communist politics.)It's hard not to be captivated by this memoir--Jessica Mitford stopped at nothing to follow her dreams, and so is simultaneously both inspiring and shocking. She was smart and funny, but seemed to give little thought to how her out of bounds actions and petty larcenies would affect others. Her sisters took issue with some of her facts, and there is a too-good-to-be true quality to parts of the book that's completely forgivable because without them the book wouldn't be as lively or fun. It's maybe telling that, as Jessica reports, her husband regaled some their new American friends with truth-embellished versions of their adventures--to improve the stories, she says.
There is a fascinating inner reflection in the last few pages where Jessica admits that though she and her young husband, Esmond Romily, believed they were entirely "self-made", free agents who had totally escaped any taint of their English aristocratic upbringing, their impatience, carefree intransigence, and supreme self-confidence could be easily traced to their backgrounds.
Jessica Mitford ends this mainly happy book before her husband dies while fighting in World War Two. The book is also called Hons and Rebels. A great read.
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LibraryThing member brenzi
I’ve been doing a bit of Mitford stalking this year and this is the latest and a good one it is. Jessica (Decca) is one of six sisters born in the early 20th century who, along with her sisters, became famous for being, well, Mitford. In this memoir, she describes her life as a child and through
”Swinbrook had many aspects of a fortress or citadel of medieval times. From the point of view of the inmates it was self-contained in the sense that it was neither necessary, nor generally possible, to leave the premises for any of the normal human pursuits. Schoolroom with governess for education, riding stables and tennis court for exercise, seven of us children for human companionship, the village church for spiritual consolation, our bedrooms for hospital wards even when operations were necessary---all were provided, either in the house itself or within easy walking distance. From the point of view of outsiders entry, in the rather unlikely event that they might seek it, was an impossibility. According to my father, outsiders included not only Huns, Frogs, Americans, blacks and all other foreigners, but also other people’s children, the majority of my older sister’s acquaintances, almost all young men---in fact, the whole teeming population of the earth’s surface, except for some, though not all, of our relations and a very few tweeded, red-faced country neighbors to whom my father had for some reason taken a liking.”
These people all led fascinating and absolutely shocking lives. A Communist, a Fascist, a Nazi, a Duchess and a novelist all grew up in the same household. How the hell did that happen? Jessica Mitford explains all from her point of view and it provides for a mesmerizing read. Her time in the states with her husband doing a variety of jobs no one was qualified for was really remarkable. Very highly recommended.
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the beginning of WWII when she and her husband are living in Miami and he leaves for Canada to volunteer for the Canadian Air Force. She bemoans the fact that her life was fully enclosed in the family estate, Swinbrook and describes it thusly:”Swinbrook had many aspects of a fortress or citadel of medieval times. From the point of view of the inmates it was self-contained in the sense that it was neither necessary, nor generally possible, to leave the premises for any of the normal human pursuits. Schoolroom with governess for education, riding stables and tennis court for exercise, seven of us children for human companionship, the village church for spiritual consolation, our bedrooms for hospital wards even when operations were necessary---all were provided, either in the house itself or within easy walking distance. From the point of view of outsiders entry, in the rather unlikely event that they might seek it, was an impossibility. According to my father, outsiders included not only Huns, Frogs, Americans, blacks and all other foreigners, but also other people’s children, the majority of my older sister’s acquaintances, almost all young men---in fact, the whole teeming population of the earth’s surface, except for some, though not all, of our relations and a very few tweeded, red-faced country neighbors to whom my father had for some reason taken a liking.”
These people all led fascinating and absolutely shocking lives. A Communist, a Fascist, a Nazi, a Duchess and a novelist all grew up in the same household. How the hell did that happen? Jessica Mitford explains all from her point of view and it provides for a mesmerizing read. Her time in the states with her husband doing a variety of jobs no one was qualified for was really remarkable. Very highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Kasthu
Hons and Rebels, a memoir of the life of the “commie” Mitford sister, Jessica, details the authors life from her childhood in rural England up until the time she lived in Miami in the 1940s. The Mitford clan of six sisters (Nancy wrote The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate) and one
It’s a brilliant memoir, poignant and funny at the same time. Although Jessica’s not always the most sympathetic character, she’s always witty, touching her story every now and then with a hint of irony. Jessica describes everything in painstaking detail, from the Cotswold countryside to certain conversations she had with various people. The memoir is evocative of the time period in which Jessica lived.
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brother was an unusual one, prone to playing tricks upon one another and outsiders. Jessica grew up to embrace the ideals of the communist party, while her sister Unity became a Fascist, hobnobbing with Hitler. Jessica then ran away with and married her cousin Edwin Romilly, later moving to the United States.It’s a brilliant memoir, poignant and funny at the same time. Although Jessica’s not always the most sympathetic character, she’s always witty, touching her story every now and then with a hint of irony. Jessica describes everything in painstaking detail, from the Cotswold countryside to certain conversations she had with various people. The memoir is evocative of the time period in which Jessica lived.
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LibraryThing member Miro
This is a fine introduction to the British aristocracy and its struggles from the early 1930's to the outbreak of WW2. The author doesn't pull any punches and is quite open about its (the upper classes) ambivalence about war with Germany. Hitler's defeat of the German communists was viewed with
However, after the invasion of Holland they closed ranks against fascism, isolating the author's sister Diana who was interned with Oswald Mosley (British fascist leader) and a second sister Unity (companion of Hitler) who was invalided by a suicide attempt on the declaration of war.
The part of the book dealing with the author's romance with Esmond Romilly is equally well written but very irritating as they make a nuisance of themselves throughout Spain, France and America all the while spouting Communist nonsense.
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approval as was support for Franco against the Spanish Republican government.However, after the invasion of Holland they closed ranks against fascism, isolating the author's sister Diana who was interned with Oswald Mosley (British fascist leader) and a second sister Unity (companion of Hitler) who was invalided by a suicide attempt on the declaration of war.
The part of the book dealing with the author's romance with Esmond Romilly is equally well written but very irritating as they make a nuisance of themselves throughout Spain, France and America all the while spouting Communist nonsense.
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LibraryThing member amerynth
I have a little bit of an obsession with the six Mitford sisters, mainly because I find it fascinating that six aristocratic British girls grew up and took such divergent paths. (For those not familiar, one became an author, another a farmer, one a Nazi, one a Fascist, another a duchess and
Jessica's memoir is at its best when she talks about her early family life and tells the stories of her sisters. The latter half of the book focuses on her romance with Esmond Romilly, her cousin and Winston Churchill's dashing nephew, who comes across as kind of a conman, initially interested in Jessica for her money.
There wasn't a ton of insight into the family that I didn't get from reading a giant tome of letters between the sisters several years ago, but it was nice to hear more about Jessica's life (since she and her sisters were frequently not on speaking terms. Glad to have read this one.
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finally, Jessica, who wrote "Hons and Rebels" -- who became a Communist with plans to fight in the Spanish Civil War before she eloped and headed off to America where she fought for social justice. Jessica's memoir is at its best when she talks about her early family life and tells the stories of her sisters. The latter half of the book focuses on her romance with Esmond Romilly, her cousin and Winston Churchill's dashing nephew, who comes across as kind of a conman, initially interested in Jessica for her money.
There wasn't a ton of insight into the family that I didn't get from reading a giant tome of letters between the sisters several years ago, but it was nice to hear more about Jessica's life (since she and her sisters were frequently not on speaking terms. Glad to have read this one.
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LibraryThing member nautilus
This is a re-read for me in preparation for the autobiography of Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, another of the Mitford sisters. I love anything to do with the Mitfords.
LibraryThing member AneG81
Explicit writing, it kept me interested from the beginning to the end.
This may be a funny book for anyone interested in the struggles of two upper class couple in the working-class world. One day they had everything – even when they thought different- and the next day, they decided to rebel
Jessica Mitford a high-born woman with a lack knowledge of the working-class world, had full trust on her charming husband. She was always hoping, he will get them out of the daily issues of the commoners. At the end, Esmond Romilly realized that he should do more than sitting around and fight the war instead.
This may be a funny book for anyone interested in the struggles of two upper class couple in the working-class world. One day they had everything – even when they thought different- and the next day, they decided to rebel
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against their family and explore the world together. Initially, Romilly wanted to join the right group and express his anti-fascism views but decisions taken like gambling among others got him out of his political path. Jessica Mitford a high-born woman with a lack knowledge of the working-class world, had full trust on her charming husband. She was always hoping, he will get them out of the daily issues of the commoners. At the end, Esmond Romilly realized that he should do more than sitting around and fight the war instead.
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LibraryThing member CarltonC
Another of Slightly Foxed beautifully produced pocket sized hardbacks, this memoir by one of the six Mitford sisters (the most famous now being Nancy), covers Jessica’s life from birth in 1917 until 1940 when her husband joins the Canadian airforce. It was particularly interesting as it starts at
The British humour is of its time and social class, even though Jessica may be rebelling against it, for example about Nancy’s return to Swinbrook from a London bedsit after a month:
Jessica - “How could you! If I ever got away to a bed-sitter I’d never come back.”
Nancy - “Oh darling, but you should have seen it. After about a week, it was knee-deep in underclothes. I literally had to wade through them. No one to put them away.”
The first third of the book is about Jessica’s childhood and debuting (being presented to the King and Queen) in the 1935 London season.
The focus then changes to politics, with Jessica’s nascent Communist sympathies “kicking the traces” against the majority of her family’s more right wing views, with her sisters Unity (widely publicised friendship with Hitler) and Diana (married British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley) being Nazi supporters in the 1930’s.
In 1936 Jessica runs away from home, eloping with her cousin Esmond Romilly, making their way to Bilbao in Spain to report on the Civil War. However, as the daughter of a peer, the British papers sensationalise the story, making their continued stay in Spain untenable (as warned that their presence could jeopardise British assistance to the Loyalist government).
They live in London’s East End (poor district) for a period (where they lose their first child to measles) and then move to the United States in 1939 (Esmond not wanting to be conscripted if the British were to side with Germany against the USSR). Life is lived intensely, although it can read as living frivolously, always knowing that they can fall back on family and friends, as they are upper class. But this really is “Carpe diem”, even if only with hindsight, as once Germany invades France and it is clear that Britain will fight Nazi Germany, then Esmond volunteers for the Canadian Air Force in Britain, and is killed in action in 1941. I was surprised by how poignant I found this concluding chapter, as it seeks to try and explain how the frivolous eccentricity leads to this acceptance of the necessity of war for Esmond.
It is clichéd to say that “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” (L P Hartley, The Go-Between). This book shows the truth of this, however clichéd, and does so with great humour.
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Swinbrook House in the Cotswolds, a few miles from where I live (recently driven past with lambs in the fields below and bluebells in the nearby woods).The British humour is of its time and social class, even though Jessica may be rebelling against it, for example about Nancy’s return to Swinbrook from a London bedsit after a month:
Jessica - “How could you! If I ever got away to a bed-sitter I’d never come back.”
Nancy - “Oh darling, but you should have seen it. After about a week, it was knee-deep in underclothes. I literally had to wade through them. No one to put them away.”
The first third of the book is about Jessica’s childhood and debuting (being presented to the King and Queen) in the 1935 London season.
The focus then changes to politics, with Jessica’s nascent Communist sympathies “kicking the traces” against the majority of her family’s more right wing views, with her sisters Unity (widely publicised friendship with Hitler) and Diana (married British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley) being Nazi supporters in the 1930’s.
In 1936 Jessica runs away from home, eloping with her cousin Esmond Romilly, making their way to Bilbao in Spain to report on the Civil War. However, as the daughter of a peer, the British papers sensationalise the story, making their continued stay in Spain untenable (as warned that their presence could jeopardise British assistance to the Loyalist government).
They live in London’s East End (poor district) for a period (where they lose their first child to measles) and then move to the United States in 1939 (Esmond not wanting to be conscripted if the British were to side with Germany against the USSR). Life is lived intensely, although it can read as living frivolously, always knowing that they can fall back on family and friends, as they are upper class. But this really is “Carpe diem”, even if only with hindsight, as once Germany invades France and it is clear that Britain will fight Nazi Germany, then Esmond volunteers for the Canadian Air Force in Britain, and is killed in action in 1941. I was surprised by how poignant I found this concluding chapter, as it seeks to try and explain how the frivolous eccentricity leads to this acceptance of the necessity of war for Esmond.
It is clichéd to say that “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” (L P Hartley, The Go-Between). This book shows the truth of this, however clichéd, and does so with great humour.
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LibraryThing member john.cooper
This is a very incisive and surprisingly skillful memoir of a very unusual upper-class childhood in England, partly because Jessica Mitford is the kind of author who can write with great power while seeming to write almost offhandedly, and partly because Mitford, who in young adulthood became a
There is an over-the-top element to almost every page of this true story that contrasts well with Mitford’s dry style. I suppose that most people who are interested in reading this book, which is in print as part of the New York Review of Books Classics series, know about the Mitford sisters, who included one Communist (Jessica), two fascists (one of whose weddings included Josef Goebbels as best man), and a duchess, among others; and they may know the author as being most famous as a journalist who exposed the excesses of the American funeral industry in The American Way of Death. Her young life does have to be read about to be believed. But I hope you will consider picking up this book if you have any interest at all in smart, complex people, or perhaps in an England that was lost with the last great war.
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committed Communist, is more inclined than most to be frank about the English class system. Never fear, though, no cliché-ridden denunciations or screeds are to be found. Mitford was a Communist by choice, but an Englishwoman by birth, and the characteristically English skill of understatement is far more in evidence. I found I liked Mitford very much, even if I liked the first great love of her life, the young Esmond Romilly (Winston Churchill’s nephew), and her parents, less than she herself did. It’s one mark of a good writer that you can form your own reaction to characters that the writer is less than objective about.There is an over-the-top element to almost every page of this true story that contrasts well with Mitford’s dry style. I suppose that most people who are interested in reading this book, which is in print as part of the New York Review of Books Classics series, know about the Mitford sisters, who included one Communist (Jessica), two fascists (one of whose weddings included Josef Goebbels as best man), and a duchess, among others; and they may know the author as being most famous as a journalist who exposed the excesses of the American funeral industry in The American Way of Death. Her young life does have to be read about to be believed. But I hope you will consider picking up this book if you have any interest at all in smart, complex people, or perhaps in an England that was lost with the last great war.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1960
Physical description
284 p.; 8.1 inches
ISBN
0030596831 / 9780030596834
Local notes
Autobiography