The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters

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The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters

4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 · rating details · 1,115 ratings · 147 reviews

The great wits and beauties of their age, the Mitford sisters were immoderate in their passions for ideas and people, counting among their diverse friends Adolf Hitler and Queen Elizabeth II, Cecil Beaton and President Kennedy, Evelyn Waugh and Givenchy. As editor Charlotte Mosley notes, not since the Brontës have the members of a single family written so much about themse...more

Hardcover, 864 pages

Published November 6th 2007 by Harper (first published January 1st 2007)

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Dec 06, 2011 Jeanette marked it as finish-someday

Shelves: europe-and-british-isles, nonfiction

If you want to appreciate this collection from cover to cover, you have to know a lot more about the Mitford girls than I would ever care to know. I shall be plucking juicy tidbits until I've had my fill.

(I'm still reading this, but moving it to my "finish someday" shelf. I own it, so it's going to take me months and months to get through it.)

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Jan 10, 2008 Nette rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm obsessed by the Mitfords, so I devoured this. How can you not be fascinated by a family where the six sisters were a Communist, a Fascist, a Nazi, a duchess, a novelist, and a farmer? All of them were hilariously funny -- OK, not so much Unity, the Nazi -- and brilliant. The only problem is that for a while after readomg ot. you'll find yourself talking like an upper crust 1920s eccentric. Oh darling, DO admit.

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Nov 19, 2012 Caroline rated it 1 of 5 stars

I love the novels of Nancy Mitford, so when someone recommended this book to me I immediately got it from Amazon. It arrived a few days ago. Sadly it is going to leave my house practically unread. I found that the rabid adoration of Hilter and Nazism of some of the Mitford sisters really stuck in my gullet, rendering the book hugely distasteful. Up until now it had just been an issue in the background, dampened by the glory of Nancy's wonderful novels. But these letters show with undoubted clari...more

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Jul 04, 2010 Ali rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

really don't know where to begin in reviewing this stupendous work. I am fascinated by the Mitfords - and I have read several books about them or by them. These wonderful letters between the six sisters are a chronicle of a century - Nancy born 1904 and Diana died 2003. The letters chart the changing relationships between the sisters. The vast differences between them, and the things which united them. It is through their eyes and in their own peculiar Mitfordian language that we expierence: Di...more

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Feb 03, 2008 Patricia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-nonfiction, women, read-in-2008

I got this book because it sounded interesting. Not interesting like, "I want to read that," but interesting like "I should read that." When I got it, I groaned. It was huge, 834 pages, and I figured I would start it and wander off about a quarter of the way through.

Boy howdy was I wrong. It was an incredibly engrossing book and I loved every minute of it. The six Mitford sisters, born between 1904 and 1920 started writing to each other in their 20's and continued throughout their lives. Four of...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Karen Powell added it

A must for anyone fascinated with the Mitfords, or with 20th century history. The letters between Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah span thoughout their lifetimes, their connections to history's elite providing an inner look to newsmakers of the past, like WInston Churchill and JFK.[return][return]The sisters have a unique sense of humor due to their unconventional upbringing as struggling aristocrats. Their letters are peppered liberally with nicknames, inside jokes, and jibes at t...more A must for anyone fascinated with the Mitfords, or with 20th century history. The letters between Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah span thoughout their lifetimes, their connections to history's elite providing an inner look to newsmakers of the past, like WInston Churchill and JFK.[return][return]The sisters have a unique sense of humor due to their unconventional upbringing as struggling aristocrats. Their letters are peppered liberally with nicknames, inside jokes, and jibes at their peers and each other. Editor Charlotte Mosely (Diana's daughter-in-law) provides many detailed footnotes to sort it all out. I did wonder at the objectivity of having a family member edit the letters, and there are things that have been left out that may be too personal for those still living (such as well-publicized affairs of Debo's husband Andrew Cavendish.) Yet, I was amazed by what was left in -- these are very personal letters. And the upside of having a family member as your editor is that the sensitive topic of the sisters' politics can be handled with care. Here we see fascists Diana and Unity not just as Hilter fans, but as loving family members, witty jokesters, and intelligent women. It brings depth to characters that we though we understood. For instance, I was blown away by the pitiful letter of Unity's, written after the suicide attempt that rendered her with serious brain damage, that was so innocent and childlike -- a huge departure from the gushing, adoring accounts of Hilter and the Nazis only a few years before. This is precisely the goal of the Mitfords when it comes to public opinion of themselves: Loyalty to each other trumps politics, though not every sister followed this to the letter. Letters between Diana and Jessica stop when Diana becomes a unabashed fascist. However, Jessica had no such injunction against her most beloved sister Unity. [return][return]It's feuds like that that also bring these letters to life. We see Nancy playing her sisters off of each other and causing trouble, Deborah desperately trying to keep everyone happy, and little snipes and jibes from one sister to another over perceived slights and betrayals. It is their relationship with each other that matters more than politics. Diana's close relationship with Hitler is not as big a family scandal as when Jessica was accused of stealing a photo album and giving out the pictures. The letters show that the sisters were wrapped up in themselves and their world, creating a bond strong enough to last decades, and inspired them to write faithfully to each other. Were they selfish, out-of-touch members of a fading aristocratic system? Or are they just regular women who happened to be caught up in the whirlwinds of history? Reading the Mitfords' own words will allow you to decide and pass judgement.(less)

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Jul 26, 2011 Claire added it

This massive door-stop of a book is one of the most fascinating volumes of collected letters I have ever read. The six Mitford sisters - Nancy, Diana, Pamela, Deborah, Jessica and Unity - came from an aristicratic, pivileged and very close-knit family, and were all inveterate letter-writers. Despite the wide-ranging age differences between the sisters, and despite the usual sibling arguments (which got very heated at times - in particular between Jessica and Diana, who fell out over their diamet...more This massive door-stop of a book is one of the most fascinating volumes of collected letters I have ever read. The six Mitford sisters - Nancy, Diana, Pamela, Deborah, Jessica and Unity - came from an aristicratic, pivileged and very close-knit family, and were all inveterate letter-writers. Despite the wide-ranging age differences between the sisters, and despite the usual sibling arguments (which got very heated at times - in particular between Jessica and Diana, who fell out over their diametrically opposed political viewpoints and didn't speak or write to each other for many years), these six devoted sisters wrote to each other almost daily, and theirs is an illuminating and vivid correspondence (even edited, as it is here). They were all talented writers and passionate people, whose lives spun off in very different directions; something which is revealed in this collection of letters put together by Diana's daughter-in-law, Charlotte Mosley. This volume tracks the ascerbic Nancy's career as a writer and her life in France, impulsive Jessica's politicisation as a communist, her elopement with a young man who was killed during World War Two, and her eventual remarriage and writing career in America, the slightly quirky Pamela's desire for a quiet life away from the public eye, and witty Deborah's eventual (and somewhat unexpected) elevation to the upper reaches of the peerage as the Duchess of Devonshire, all in their own words.

But what is most interesting is the insight this volume provides into the two most notorious of this controversial group of siblings: Unity and Diana. Unity is probably the most notorious and mysterious of all - it was she who, ever willing to shock, became a full-blown Nazi in the 1930's, even going so far as to live in Germany and wangle herself into the private circle of the Fuhrer himself, becoming infatuated with Hitler (there are even persistent and never confirmed rumours that she had his child). She shot herself when Britain declared war on Germany, but survived and lived, much changed, as an invalid with her mother in Britain until her death in the late 1940's. In these letters, Unity comes across as an intense and stubborn young woman, with strong self-belief and (to a certain extent) the courage of her convictions - the latter clearly being hobbled by the romantic streak at her core; ultimately, she was a woman ruled by her heart not her head. The same can be said about Diana, who married Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists, and unrepentantly defended his actions and much of the Fascist doctrine for the rest of her long life. Her letters show her as witty and intelligent, but with a huge blindspot when it came to her husband (who doesn't come across at all sympathetically in her letters, or in those of her sisters), and any criticism of him or his beliefs. Although I have long been appalled by their political naiveity, in the end, I found myself feeling a little sorry for them both - it didn't bring either of them an awful lot of happiness in the final reckoning.

Charlotte Mosley resists the temptation to over-elaborate with excessive notes or footnotes, providing the reader only with what is necessary and letting the sisters' letters speak for themselves. These letters are a document of a lost time, and a celebration of family (warts and all). This thoroughly enjoyable volume is also a damn good, gossipy read and you can't say fairer than that.(less)

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Aug 21, 2010 Stephanie Patterson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Once several years ago, I cancelled plans to attend a New Year's Eve party because I was enthralled by an early edition of Mitford letters edited by Charlotte Moseley, "With Love From Nancy" which collected the letters of the eldest Mitford sister.
Now Ms Mosely has given us the letters written between all 6 sisters: Nancy, the author of a number of witty novels and biographies; Diana-who married Oswold Mosley, the head of the British Union of Fascists and spent time in prison during WWII; Unity...more

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Oct 30, 2009 The Library Lady rated it 2 of 5 stars

Reading these letters has really underlined to me how crucial Fanny Logan Wyncham, narrator of The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate is to those books--she is the most human character and contrasts vividly to the Radlett family, who were based on the Mitfords.

Charlotte Mosley has apparently done quite well making a living off the papers of her Mitford in-laws, but she hasn't helped their public images the way Nancy Mitford did with the novels. Perhaps if she had put explanatory paragr...more

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Mar 03, 2009 Eileen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love books in the form of letters, love histories, love portraits of interesting characters...this book could be a perfect storm except that I can't stand these Mitfords. The book is engrossing, and I'm enjoying visits home to my mom's to continue reading the family portrait, but I currently hold about as much affection for them as for the (Paris) Hiltons - read: none. The Mitfords are witty, they are largely uneducated, they are vivacious, they are tragic, they are apolitical, they are politi...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Aine O'Callaghan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm trying to expand my reading a bit- so I thought historical non-fiction was a good place to start. Also, a book of letters sounded good- not too far removed from Bridget Jones. This book was really interesting because these six sisters were incredibly different to each other- two were hitler sympathisers, one was a communist, one an author and the others were just normal people who didn't have strong opinions- or I just can't remember very much about them. I found myself warming to them as pe...more

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Jan 14, 2009 DonaAna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a very fascinating book - a compilation of letters with mini biographies interspersed. 4 stars instead of 5 because of the following
- The book is slow at getting started. Only after about 150 pages or so I started to be able to tell the siblings apart from each other. Soon, however, they become quite distinct. In the end, you know who is writing from just their choice of words and topics.
- A period when a lot happens (young adulthood, marriages, running away, formation of political ideas...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I wouldn't have chosen this for myself. However, as a gift from my own sister, and bought at Chatsworth, it made sense. I might well not have persevered with it as it is a big unwieldy thing and thus difficult to read when laid low, but it seemed somehow a wonderful antidote to A Week in December whose 'Modern Life is Rubbish' had left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, things were rotten before! Just as I thought! Yay!

There were lots of interesting little details - although fewer interesting people...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Victoria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, family, history, politics, 2013, kindle

A fascinating look at the 20th century through the eyes of a single family in their personal correspondence. These woman were at the heart of a wide spectrum of political and social life in Europe. They weaved their way through the century, creating a link between Hitler, the British monarchy and Stalin.

It is also a fascinating look at the dynamics of sisters. Having a sister of my own, I recognise the rivalry, jealousy, the fight to be the one approved of and beloved of your parents, and the b...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Kate Walker rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone interested in social history of the twentieth century

Recommended to Kate by: ABC 702 Sydney

A fascinating recount of the lives of 6 amazing sisters who lived through and were part of the most extraordinary events of the 1930's - 60's. A little confusing initially until you get to familiarise yourself with each sister and to whom they're referring in their own language of pet and nicknames for one another; and reading the references in each letter is a little labourious, but worthwhile as it sheds light of whom they're referring. The sisters knew (and were related to) Churchill; kept co...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Leah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: letters, biography, general-history

I loved this book.

I know I have previously been guilty of romanticising the Mitford sisters (like an interviewer says to Diana, "It must have been really something when you were all together..."). In my mind they exist mainly in the 1930s, becoming beautiful young debutantes and making friends with the interesting and important people of the era. This is ridiculous, of course.

There is no better way to be cured of Midnight-in-Paris syndrome than by reading these fantastic letters. Learning the s...more
I loved this book.

I know I have previously been guilty of romanticising the Mitford sisters (like an interviewer says to Diana, "It must have been really something when you were all together..."). In my mind they exist mainly in the 1930s, becoming beautiful young debutantes and making friends with the interesting and important people of the era. This is ridiculous, of course.

There is no better way to be cured of Midnight-in-Paris syndrome than by reading these fantastic letters. Learning the sisters' in-jokes, their delights and fears and irritations, following them all through the decades following the 30s and seeing where life took them, all these things contribute to a deeper understanding of the Mitford sisters, and of people in general. The intimacy of the medium allows the reader a sense of bypassing all the historiography, all the biases and prejudices of the writers of the time and after it. Here we find the actual women of the Mitford myth, what they thought of each other and of the legend that inexplicably sprung up around them.

I was so affected by reading these letters that I think it will be a long time before I tackle one of the several Mitford biographies that are currently weighing down my shelves. It would be like reading a biography of a close friend: you would be constantly shaking your head at the distortion of events and character.

As to the construction of the book, Charlotte Mosley's editing is almost perfect. The letters flow smoothly, with perhaps one or two large time lapses that make the reader wonder why no letters from a whole year made the cut. At first I read all the footnotes, but I found that the narratives of letters made more sense if I didn't do this religiously, occasionally flipping pages to figure out what they were talking about, but mostly just letting the feel of each letter do the talking (much like they tell a new reader to read the words around an unknown word to see if they can figure out its meaning). The research is clearly exhaustive but never overtakes the letters themselves. Mosley's introductions to each section are informative but again, don't detract from the stars of the show. She edited with such a loving and light touch that the book flies past.

I honestly thought reading a book of letters would be like reading a reference book, but I couldn't put this down! Sweet, poignant, sad, fascinating and joyous, the lives of the Mitford sisters were made infinitely richer by having each other to write to, and we are privileged to have access to their entire lives in this epic volume.(less)

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Sep 05, 2010 Shannon Vincent Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this following Mary Lovell's "The Mitford Girls", which was the perfect accompaniment to the book. Having a background of each sister's life before I read this book really brought the letters to life.

The Mitford family continues to entertain and bring interest, and these letters between them, written from 1925-2004, really demonstrate why. They are humorous, witty, at times cutting, gossipy, and singularly Mitford. It is fascinating to see the relationship between each sister, as well as...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Eileen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, britlit

This one took awhile not really because of length but because it was too big to really carry around. Now I am finished! HUZZAH etc.

Primary sources are generally very interesting as long as you are interested in the subject matter and time period. I was interested in both, and so liked it very much.

When I started reading, the balance of the book seemed odd and off-kilter. Much of the Mitfords' fame/notoriety came right around the WWII era, so why was there such a large proportion of letters left...more

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Jun 02, 2009 Kimberly rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a fascinating book due to 1)the people the Mitfords knew: Queen Elizabeth, Hitler, Kennedys, Maya Angelou, Churchill, etc 2)the sheer length and volume of correspondence--thousands of letters spanning 60+ years (between four published authors!) and 3)seeing women and their complex relationships grow and change over a lifetime. Having said that, the Mitfords themselves I don't care for much, with the exception of kind Deborah, Lady of Devonshire. Nancy is while smart and funny--sad, bitt...more

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Apr 23, 2009 Davianroberts rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not only did these girls know how to twirl a sentence, between them they managed to be in close proximity of nearly every historically important figure of the twentieth century, from Hitler to the Kennedys. Their letters are frank and fascinating, though at times it is difficult to decode the unique language they developed as they grew up together in the English countryside as the children of aristocrats. Keeping track of the nicknames alone is a job. However, this gives the book charm, and is p...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

True letters between popular sisters in the mid-1900s and beyond. One sister had a crazy crush on Hitler & tried to commit suicide in Munich when Germany & England declared war on each other, one sister became a raging Communist, one sister married poor and was quite snippy at times towards the wealthier ones, one sister became a Nazi after having an affair with a British Nazi, one sister's first husband died in WW2- she remarried and moved to America on the first transatlantic passenger...more

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May 13, 2009 Modernisti rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hmmm..Denis Thatcher smoking in the Ladies' (spouses?) reception room, or some other place where the peers' or peeresses spouses mingle...
There is fire in this collection of letters...
----
13th May
the end is nigh, I'm on page 668, and only last week one Mosley died young (Diana's grandson Alexander). As I have read, on a Cyprus holiday, parallel to this book another family saga, Anna Freud's life, the question remains: how you survive in circumstances that are both luxurious/upper class/intellect...more

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Feb 19, 2010 Beatrice Gormley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

These English sisters, writing to each other incessantly throughout the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and on and on, were a remarkable bunch: two of them successful writers, one of them a dear friend of Adolf Hitler, another the wife of the leader of the English Fascist Party; another joined the American Communist Party. All of them were at least a little eccentric. In spite of their differences, their affection and loyalty to each other was remarkable. My favorite quote in the letters:
"Wouldn't it be dr...more

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Aug 30, 2009 Linnea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: letters, biography-memoir

Having read a number of books by and about the Mitford sisters, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of letters that spanned all of their lives. It's fascinating to have the opportunity to formulate one's own impressions of the sisters (rather than just read a biographer's opinions--or even the sisters' sometimes varying accounts). They all led amazing (and sometimes very shocking) lives that intersected with some of the major historical events of the last century, but the thing I enjoyed most a...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Diantha Parker rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just re-read much of this as part of a Mitford summer re-reading jag. It's great for dipping into if you've already read it cover to cover--fascinating and so deeply funny, very sad, and often politically incorrect by turns. You're living with them when you read it. If you've already gone down the Mitford rabbit hole, which I throughly recommend, you'll love it. If you need convincing, or are a Mitford virgin, begin with Mary Lovell's biography of the 6 of them, or Love In a Cold Climate by si...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Danielle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: litex-challenge-2013

These letters between the Mitford sisters served mostly to show me that any life - however fascinating - can always be improved with the help of a good editor.

I love reading about the Mitford sisters - they all had fascinating lives gadding around the Western world doing fabulous things. However, what this book also showed me is that they also maintained an active home life and also spent time doing the same ordinary things that all other women also did at the time - raising children, gardening...more These letters between the Mitford sisters served mostly to show me that any life - however fascinating - can always be improved with the help of a good editor.

I love reading about the Mitford sisters - they all had fascinating lives gadding around the Western world doing fabulous things. However, what this book also showed me is that they also maintained an active home life and also spent time doing the same ordinary things that all other women also did at the time - raising children, gardening, cleaning.

Because of this active home life - which, let's face it, is only really interesting to their friends and family - the letters often suffer from too much detail. There are so many letters they wrote to each other along the lines of 'the grandchildren came over today for a visit', or 'I've been cleaning out the house', instead of the exciting parts of their lives that made them famous - the rebellion, the politics and the writing. This of course makes perfect sense (I don't often write to my sisters about my political views either!) but it does make the letters a bit of a chore to get through sometimes.

At the same time, huge moments in the sisters' lives were glossed over in the letters.(view spoiler) This again makes complete sense - when important things were happening in their lives, the sisters met up or phoned each other rather than writing. But as a result, the reader is left feeling a little unsatisfied.

There were some points of interest in the book. It was fascinating to read about Hitler from Unity's perspective and also interesting to see first hand the change in her personality after she suffered brain damage. It provides an insight into the intense politics that often goes on inside families as well.

These letters will probably be most interesting to a strong aficionado of the Mitford sisters. For everyone else, there is a surfeit of other writing about these women which better showcases the most interesting aspects of their lives. I'd recommend that people just starting to learn about these amazing women start with one of these books instead. (less)

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May 21, 2010 Tigger rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 04, 2008 Harry Rutherford rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters, edited by Charlotte Mosley, is a selection of letters between the various Mitford sisters, who were an extraordinary bunch. From oldest to youngest, Nancy was the novelist who wrote Love In A Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love; Pamela was least remarkable; Diana married Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists; Unity went off to Germany and became a personal friend of Hitler; Jessica ran away from home to join a cousin fighting on the co...more The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters, edited by Charlotte Mosley, is a selection of letters between the various Mitford sisters, who were an extraordinary bunch. From oldest to youngest, Nancy was the novelist who wrote Love In A Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love; Pamela was least remarkable; Diana married Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists; Unity went off to Germany and became a personal friend of Hitler; Jessica ran away from home to join a cousin fighting on the communist side in the Spanish Civil War, and became a civil rights activist and writer in America; and Deborah, the only surviving sister, is now Duchess of Devonshire and spent most of her life working to make Chatsworth House into a profitable outfit.

Among the notable names that crop up: Hitler, Goebbels, Churchill, Harold Macmillan, General de Gaulle, JFK, John Betjemen, Evelyn Waugh, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Queen, the Queen Mother, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Noel Coward... so there's lots of good material there.

The main interest in the early part of the book is the Big History stuff: the Nazis and Hitler most of all. I read it trying to get some sense of what appealed to Unity and Diana about Fascism, but although there are lots of letters about Hitler, and going to rallies and so on, I never quite got a handle on it. I suspect that for Diana, it was as much because of her attraction to Oswald Mosley as any ideology, but it can't have just been that. And Unity seems to have had an with Hitler before she met him in the way someone might have an obsession with Elvis or Princess Diana. She found out where he regularly went to eat and kept going there until she had the chance to wangle an introduction.

I suppose since half of Europe went Fascist in the thirties, there's no need for a special explanation. The same thing appealed to them as to everyone else: whatever that was. It's perhaps easier to look back and empathise with the appeal of communism, but still, with that too it would be interesting to know what triggered it: was there some particular conversation or book? What would be enough to make Jessica run off to Spain in pursuit of it?

As the book goes on and the sisters get older and less active, the focus narrows down from these Big Issues onto their family dynamics, which are often made rather tense by the growing interest in them and the various books and TV programmes made by themselves and others. It's still fascinating, though.

It helps that they all write well: their letters are chatty, funny, sometimes serious, and frequently quite bitchy. Nancy had the sharpest edge, but they all had their caustic moments. I probably ought to quote something, so here's a fairly random bit that I thought showed a sharp eye. This is Diana writing to Deborah in 1960; Max is her son. He's the Max Mosley currently in the news, as it happens.

Yesterday Max fetched me in the Austin Healey Sprite & drove me to Oxford where Jean had made a delicious middle day dinner. The flat is marvellous, not one ugly thing, & a view over playing fields to real country & a garden with an apple tree. ALL the wedding presents were being used — your car, Desmond's china, Emma's Derby ware, Viv's pressure cooker, Muv's pink blanket on the bed and (pièce de résistance) Wife's coffee set — also of course Freddy Bailey's canteen of silver.

Oh Debo, the pathos of the young. Don't let's think.

Charlotte Mosley, who edited the book, is daughter-in-law of Diana, so one wonders if she is, or could be, completely objective — it's impossible to know whether she has quietly laundered anything out, and apparently, even at 800 pages, what appears in the book is a tiny percentage of the total — but I thoroughly enjoyed it.(less)

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Jun 16, 2008 PastAllReason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2008, biography

Fascinating collection of letters exchanged between the six Mitford sisters over the course of their lives. The correspondence spans decades for sisters who led quite extraordinary lives.

The correspondence includes exchanges from Nancy Mitford, the eldest, who became a best-selling author, from Unity who became a Nazi who met Hitler several times in the 1930s and plainly hero-worshipped him in her correspondence, from Diana who first married the heir to the Guinness fortune and divorced him to...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Bonnie Nordling rated it 5 of 5 stars

A truly brilliant collection of letters between 6 very individualistic sisters. Their style of writing made me envious! I wish people would still communicate so beautifully with one another. I did find myself getting slightly confused in the beginning about who was writing to whom. But once you get into the swing of it, you learn each ones character traits and quirks and are able to keep track of them that way. A truly fascinating insight into the times, lives and mentalities of a famous family....more

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About Charlotte Mosley

Charlotte Mosley, Diana Mitford's daughter-in-law, has worked as a publisher and journalist. She has published A Talent to Annoy: Essays, Articles, and Reviews by Nancy Mitford; Love from Nancy: The Letters of Nancy Mitford; and The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh. She lives in Paris.

More about Charlotte Mosley...

Books by Charlotte Mosley

The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh

In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor

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“(from Diana to Deborah, 8 May 1998)
Talking of language difficulty Tony Lambton says Selwyn Lloyd introduced him to Khrushchev saying 'He's the best shot in England,' and the translator said 'Lord Lambton is to be shot tomorrow.' Khrushchev thought it quite normal but patted him on the shoulder kindly.” — 2 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112880.The_Mitfords?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266474782l/112880.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112880.The_Mitfords?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters by Charlotte Mosley[/url]

The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters

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