THE SIX Paperback – October 3, 2017

The six daughters of the 2nd Lord Redesdale were born between 1904 and 1920, and their lives whether short or long have come to emulate much of the twentieth century's brightest and darkest periods. Laura Thompson's joint biography of the sisters focuses on their lives as part of one family that was sometimes loving, often in conflict, and always eccentric. The timeframe runs roughly from the marriage of their parents (but including some necessary preliminary background) to the death of their widowed mother in 1963, with an Afterwards summarizing the sisters' later years.The Mitford Girls in order of birth were Nancy, a highly successful novelist and historian; Pamela, who quietly suffered the aftereffects of polio and possibly some learning disabilities, leading a quiet rural life for the most part; glamorous Diana, who made a glittering Society wedding at 18 and then left her husband for Sir Oswald Mosley and Fascism; Unity, so enamored of Hitler and Nazism that she became notorious in her early twenties, then died from the after effects of a botched suicide attempt in 1948; Jessica the Communist, a rebel who abandoned her parents and sisters and eventually became a notable muckraking journalist in the United States; and Deborah, who married a man who became Duke of Devonshire, making her the chatelaine of one of the grandest private houses in England.The six girls, along with their beloved only brother Tom (who was killed at the end of World War II) had an aristocratic but eccentric upbringing. Their father inherited a sizeable estate but lost nearly all of it to bad management and bad luck, while their mother was notably detached from her husband and children even by Edwardian standards. Uneducated except for governesses and some short periods in private schools here and there, they fed their sharp minds in an excellent family library and picked up more knowledge through travel and from their large circle of friends. Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s the Mitfords seemed to know everyone who was anyone, not only in British Society but in the government (Winston Churchill's wife was Lord Redesdale's cousin). Through Sir Oswald Mosley Diana made contact with Hitler and other German leaders, while Unity basically stalked the Fuhrer and inveigled her way into his inner circle. Jessica's writing career made her well known throughout Europe and the US, and Deborah's husband's connections allowed her to claim John F. Kennedy, among others, as a relative.Thompson does a good job depicting not just the glitter and humor in the sisters' lives but the sadnesses as well. There was a long line of abandoned husbands and lovers, some children who were miscarried or died in childhood. Infamy as well as fame stalked the Mitfords. Diana spent years in prison as a possible security risk during World War II, and Jessica was shadowed by the FBI for years during the 1950s. Family arguments and political differences meant Jessica and Diana never met or spoke for decades. I felt that Thompson was a little too eager to explain away or downplay some of the less amusing aspects of the sisters' lives: Diana's comment in her autobiography that while the Holocaust was terrible the Jews did partly bring it on themselves, Unity's approving tour of Dachau and her statement "I want everyone to know I am a Jew-hater," or Jessica's remaining an active Communist Party member long after the horrors of Stalinism had become impossible to ignore. I enjoyed Thompson's chatty tone and parenthetical asides, though Americans who aren't Anglophiles or otherwise close followers of British news and culture might not understand some of her allusions.Another joint biography of the Mitford sisters which has more detail, especially on the period after their parents' deaths, is Mary Lovell's "The Sisters". Selina Hasting's "Nancy Mitford" and David Pryce-Jones' biography "Unity Mitford" are also illuminating, as are Jessica Mitford's memoirs "Hons and Rebels" (US title "Daughters and Rebels") and "A Fine Old Conflict", Deborah Duchess of Devonshire's "Wait For Me" and DianaMosley's "A Life of Contrasts." There are also several books of letters to and from the sisters edited by Diana's daughter-in-law Charlotte Mosley as well as "Decca," a collection of Jessica's letters edited by Peter Y. Sussman.

This book was written for Mitford aficionados. In reading the introduction on my Kindle, I checked twice to make sure I hadn't somehow jumped to the concluding chapter, because the introduction assumed such a high level of familiarity with the sisters, their spouses, and their milieu. It is, on the whole, a very sympathetic biography, bending over backwards, for example, to make the embrace of fascism by Diana, Unity and mother Mitford "understandable." Thompson is far less sympathetic to Nancy and Jessica Mitford, the two more leftist sisters and the more accomplished amongst an accomplished set, for reasons that are not entirely clear. There is a good deal of amateur psychologizing on the one hand, and huge information gaps, especially during their youth, on the other. The book, however, is an easy read and I have arresting sense of four of the six sisters, as well as their indomitable mother and affable, but ineffectual father.

I wanted so badly to like this book, as the premise and these women sound really interesting. However, I found the writing style very difficult to follow. The story jumps around, as do the nicknames, which makes following what is happening annoying at best and difficult at worst.

The Six were the famous (or should I say infamous?) British siblings who lived a life of wealth, culture, eccentricity and also dark days of despair and trial. Their biographer is Laura Thompson, a British author. The Mitford girls were all born in the first twenty years of the twentieth century. Their parents were descendants of ancient British stock. The girls were privately educated and enjoyed reading and outdoor sports including hunting with the hounds and enjoying the company of a wide range of pets. They were all beautiful and became popular in high class British society. They are:Nancy-The oldest daughter who became a famous novelist noted for Love in a Cold Climate and Wigs on the Grass. She loved France and died there in 1973. She was very jealous of Diana the prettiest of the Mitford women. Nancy was the most intellectual of the Mitford women.Jessica was loved by the famous poet John Betjeman. She comes off as colorless compared to the other sisters.Diana-The infamous wife of Oswald Mosley the British Fascist leader. She spent years in prison for her support of Fascism during World War II. She was a personal friend of Hitler; she married Mosely in a wedding ceremony held in the home of Dr. Joseph Goebbels the Nazi Minister of Propaganda. A complex woman for whom this reviewer has ambivalent feelings of loving and loathing.Unity Valkyrie Mitford was born in Swastika Canada where her father David and wife Sydney had gone in search of gold. She loved Hitler and tried to shoot herself to death in a suicide attempt shortly after war had been declared between Great Britain and Germany in 1939. She was mentally il;l and died in 1948 never recovering from her near fatal self inflicted gunshot wound to the head.Jessica became a Communist until 1958. She and her husband participated in the Spanish Civil War. She relocated to the United States and is famous as the author of the American Way of Death.Deborah was a fairly conventional woman and became the Duchess of Devonshire. She was the last of the sisters to die doing so in 2014. The book is written in a chatty, slangy upper class British style that takes some getting used to for we American readers. A miniseries could be made on the Mitfords! I deplore the support given the Nazi regime by Diane and Unity and also Jessica's becoming a communist. These women were a mixture of good and bad elements with very diverse opinions and lifestyles. They were iconoclastic and fascinating.

I enjoyed every page of this although the author was a little hard on Nancy! A good introduction to the Mitfords, whetting the appetite to discover more about them individually.

This biography of the Mitford sisters is difficult to follow, and all over the place. A good introduction and some decent footnotes. Suggest you read The Sisters by Mary Lovell first.

The events the Mitfords observed and/or participated in were pivotal to the 20th Century and yet the telling of their story failed to capture my interest. Certainly the cast of characters is large and the intermingling of the principals in one another's lives complicates the narrative, but it feels as though the editor could have been of greater help.

A good read.

ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING