This book was extremely dull. I did not find a good connection to the characters and felt that it dragged. This has to be Marie Benedict's worst book.

The six Mitford sisters are used to the English spotlight, but when one sister divorces her husband to marry a fascist leader between the World Wars the family becomes entangled in the Nazi party. It's up to another sister to try to save her family, and work to end the second World War.

I have read other works by Marie Benedict but The Mitford Affair is my least favorite. I enjoy Benedict's writing style and her absolute dedication to research as she creates the world that swirls around her characters. It's hard to fault her for my dislike of this novel.

However, the subject being the Mitford Sisters was just too difficult to overcome. I think Benedict choosing to have three different POVs for each of the three main characters made the flow challenging. These three perspectives did allow insight into why these women made such abhorrent decisions in supporting miscreants and evil leaders. The one sister who had the possibility of showing some redemption for this treasonous family came across as weak and not admirable in the least.

If you are curious about this family known to support communism and fascism - and Hitler himself - then by all means, please pick this up. However, if you are simply interested in reading one of Benedict's historical fictions, choose the Personal Librarian or The Other Einstein.

I give this 2.5 stars but rounded up as I do think Marie Benedict is a skillful writer who tackled an automatically unlikable family to be the subject of her novel.

English high society, international political intrigue and WWII are the backbone of this latest work of Marie Benedict. Overall, an interesting family drama concentrating on the lives of three wealthy sisters who after the Great Depression have to learn self reliance rather than leaning on their family's legacy. There's also a strong contrast between the emergence of fascism and communism across Europe and the impact it has on the family. We also see the changes mirror what we see in society as a whole then and really-also now. For that reason, this work of historical fiction feels somehow fresh and brings lessons that apply to the present.

Thank you Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, Sourcebooks Landmark and Marie Benedict for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

"The Mitford Affair" is a captivating historical fiction novel set between the World Wars, focusing on the lives of the six Mitford sisters. This eccentric and influential family dominates the English political, literary, and social scenes, but their lives take a dramatic turn when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader, and Unity follows suit, even going as far as to incite rumors of a relationship with Hitler himself.

As the Nazis rise to power, Nancy Mitford, a talented novelist, becomes increasingly suspicious of her sisters' frequent visits to Germany and their association with high-ranking fascists. The novel delves into the torrid political climate of the time, exploring how seemingly sensible individuals can be drawn into radical actions. Nancy's journey becomes a battle to prevent the Nazis from taking over Great Britain, forcing her to confront the difficult choices between personal relationships and political duty.

The strength of "The Mitford Affair" lies in its ability to transport readers to a tumultuous era in history. The author skillfully captures the atmosphere of the interwar period, immersing readers in the political tensions and social dynamics of the time. The Mitford sisters, with their distinct personalities and unconventional lives, are brought to life with vivid detail, making them both fascinating and relatable characters.

The plot is well-paced, with a perfect balance between historical accuracy and fictional elements. The author's meticulous research is evident, as the narrative seamlessly weaves together real events and the imagined experiences of the characters. The suspense builds steadily as Nancy uncovers alarming conversations and disquieting documents, creating a sense of urgency and keeping readers engaged until the very end.

One of the novel's strengths is its exploration of the complexities of personal and political choices. Nancy's internal struggle between her loyalty to her family and her duty to her country is portrayed with nuance and sensitivity. This theme adds depth to the story, making it more than just a historical account but a reflection on the moral dilemmas faced by individuals during times of crisis.

While "The Mitford Affair" is a compelling and well-written novel, there are moments when the pacing slows down, particularly during the extensive descriptions of the sisters' lives and relationships. However, these moments are outweighed by the overall strength of the story and the author's ability to transport readers to a fascinating period in history.

In conclusion, "The Mitford Affair" is a captivating historical fiction novel that delves into the lives of the influential Mitford sisters during the turbulent years between the World Wars. With its well-researched backdrop, engaging plot, and complex characters, this book offers a thought-provoking exploration of personal choices in the face of political upheaval. Fans of historical fiction and those interested in the interwar period will find this novel both entertaining and enlightening.

This novel is set just before world war II, drawing on the real family of the Mitfords. The book is told through the eyes of the three eldest sisters in alternating chapters. It explores their political views and the allegiance to their country and one another.

The Mitford sisters have always interested me so this was a fascinating read.

I have to give an author credit when she has a story about not one, but three siblings doing incredible things in history that I have never heard of. My rating is a 4.5 round down to 4--and the only reason it's not a five-star review is that I feel when writing historical fiction, the characters and plot are already a given. An author has to stay within the real boundaries of their subjects' lives.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

So two of the six Mitford sisters were considered "Bright Young Things" in the period of time between WWI and WWII. Unity was the sister I was most interested in because well, you'll have to read!

UnityMitford photo

Her middle name really was Valkyrie and she was conceived in Swastika, Ontario, so a true-blue Nazi.

The two older sisters, Nancy and Diana.

Mitfordsisters Unity, Diana, Nancy photo

The man Diana left her husband to live in sin with--

OswaldMosley photo

In 1920, he married Lady Cynthia Curzon, but he would have affairs with her younger sister and stepmother at the same time. What a cad! Finally, Mosley, widowed in 1933 when his first wife died of peritonitis, married his mistress Diana Mitford at the home of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels just two days later on October 6, 1936. Adolf Hitler attended the wedding as a guest of honor, and possible best man.

Even though there's multiple characters here, each chapter heading clearly identifies which sister is being featured.

I didn't know makeup was frowned upon in Nazi Germany. From the interwebs--

When Hitler became chancellor in 1933, his Nazi party decreed that the ideal German woman would be so wholesome, clean, and fresh-faced that she would eschew the lipstick favored by the women of Weimar Berlin. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Channel and the Atlantic, women in Great Britain and the United States were embracing lipstick wholeheartedly. American women bought lipstick as one of the only affordable luxuries (relative to clothing and handbags) during the Great Depression. A red lip was an integral part of an overall made-up face that evoked the silver screen sirens of the time like Ava Gardner, Vivien Leigh, Lana Turner, and Veronica Lake.

Rosie the riveter wears lots of makeup!
Rosieriveter photo

The six Mitford sisters are a force to be reckoned with in England's social scene during the 1930's.  The three older sisters, Diana, Unity and Nancy take interesting and different paths as different political factions arise.  Diana causes an uproar as she divorces her wealthy husband in order to pursue a relationship with the married leader of the British fascist movement, Oswald Mosley.  Diana works relentlessly to pull in money and support for the fascist movement and works closely with her sister, Unity to pull support from Germany.  Unity pushes her parents to send her to boarding school in Germany so she can become close to her idol, Hitler.  By following his schedule closely, Unity is able to fall into Hitler's inner circle.  Nancy realizes that neither Mosley or Hitler are moving in the right direction.  Nancy writes fiction novels that show her feelings.  She also keeps in touch with Diana and Unity, despite their differences in opinion.  As war looms, the sisters have difficult decisions to make.  

The Mitford family was a very real family from England whose lives made an impact in different areas during the interwar period.  While this deeply emotional historical fiction story focuses on Nancy, Diana and Unity, each sibling lived a unique experience.  The writing shows the intricacies of what happens when politics and family dynamics collide in the Mitford family.  Written from alternating points of view of the very fully formed and different characters of Diana, Unity and Nancy, I was constantly amazed at how far the sister's love for one another extended even when their beliefs were at odds.  I could feel Diana and Unity's passion towards the powerful, charismatic, yet dangerous men that they pursued and how they poured their energy and worth into Mosley and Hitler's campaigns while being aware of the risks.  Nancy's bravery shines through as she uses her pen to try to show the world and her sisters the error of their ways while being incredibly tolerable of their actions towards their faces and actively fighting against them in the background. Overall,  The Mitford Affair is a suspenseful and heartfelt look at the intersection of family and politics.

Very interesting story but hard to believe that any of it could be true. But apparently it is based on true events from that time in history. We always think we would not be vulnerable to bad leaders but this book shows just how easy that would be. Great read.

Loved this novel written from the perspectives of three of the Mitford sisters. I appreciated the look into the lives, albeit fictionalized lives, of the two despicable sisters — really interesting.

Content warnings: character who practically worships Hitler, Nazis, fascism, communism, miscarriage, attempted suicide, imprisonment, betrayal

The Mitfords are a notorious group of six English sisters who lived at the beginning of the twentieth century. Eldest sister Nancy is famous for her wit and novels, but she longs for marriage and children. Diana is unhappily married with children and seeks freedom from her husband, which leads her to fascism. Unity and Jessica shared a bedroom when younger, and each is a staunch adherent to communism and fascism, respectively. Pamela marries a fascist, which makes her more interesting in the eyes of Diana and Unity. Deborah is too young to feature much in the novel, and their brother Tom is also a minor character.

Narration mainly switches between Nancy, Diana, and Unity. The book focuses on Nancy's writing, Diana's association with the British Union of Fascists which becomes increasingly unbreakable as the novel progresses, and Unity's friendship with Adolf Hitler and rise within the Nazi party. Both Nancy and Diana's marriages and divorces also are key story elements.

The novel shows how fascism started as a potential benefit for British society to a violent party during the rise of Hitler. In the beginning stages of the Second World War, Hitler and Germany were often covered in the press as a German success story and liberators of Austria. Although the Treaty of Versailles was violated, the rest of Europe stood back because they didn't want to get involved. Communism was on the rise in Spain, and the growing fascist threat in Italy wasn't perceived as much danger until they allied with Germany.

The Mitfords' nonsensical names for each other can sometimes make the book hard to follow. For example, Jessica is Decca and Unity is Bobo or Boud. Other nicknames like Debo for Deborah and Naunce for Nancy are easier to understand.

Recommended for historical fiction readers who like to learn more about history rather than having connections to the characters.

Representation: divorced woman in the 1930s

I love this story, but it felt very drawn out for me. The sisters are interesting which is a plus, but I felt the whole narrator switch sort of confused me. Ultimately, I was able to put it down which is why it only got 3 stars. This was a near miss for me and I have loved this author and will continue to read her work! #netgalley

This was a solid historical fiction read. The book was interesting, I didn't quite vibe with the writer's writing style, but that's a matter of opinion. The story itself was great.

I don't normally enjoy reading historical fiction, but earlier this year I discovered that I love reading historical fiction based on real people and events, a bit like biographical fiction. An author who I discovered that writes a lot on this topic is Marie Benedict and I have a handful of hers to read. When it comes to the Mitford sisters, the only one I knew about because she was a writer was Nancy Mitford. I never really took much notice of her sisters, but after reading The Mitford Affair based loosely on real events, the family was an interesting bunch and for their time, the sisters were ahead of themselves. The book starts at a party which is being hosted by the eldest of the sisters Diana Mitford - Diana was married to Bryan Guiness - heir to the Guiness Beer Fortune. She ends up divorcing him for a man she calls "M" aka Oswald Mosely. Oswald is about Facism and sees himself being the British spokesperson for Hitler, Nancy is making a career for herself out of writing and feels torn between loving her sisters and her loyalty to Britain and their cousin's husband Winston Churchill, Unity fell hard and fast for Hitler and his Nazi ways and moved to Germany to be part of his party and became a spokesperson for the Nazi Party, Jessica aka Decca was strong on Communism, the other two sisters Deborah and Pamela led quieter lives compared to their sisters. Deborah became Lady Cavendish and Pamela married scientist Derek Jackson and was content with being a female farmer. The Mitford Affair focuses strongly on the lead-up to World War Two and Hitler's reign of terror, the Mitford sisters' roles during this time, and the aftermath which saw one sister in prison and another committing suicide. After reading this I fell down the rabbit hole of The Mitford Sisters as I started to research them. One thing that I love about Marie Benedict's books is they are finally shining a spotlight on historical female figures who were normally hidden in the wings.

A patron came into the library talking about Winston Churchill and the Mitford family. She had just read a nonfiction book about the families and said the story was fascinating. When I saw that Marie Benedict had tackled the subject I was all in. The story is so amazing it seems unreal. A well written fast read about the families during WWII. Another winner from one of my favorite authors.

I feel conflicted about this book - I love that it introduced me to a slice of history that I had no idea existed, the Mitford sisters. It’s an almost unbelievable story if it wasn’t true and I appreciate a new topic when it comes to WWII-era Britain. The aristocratic, English sisters came to be key players in the interwar period, several of them committed to extreme politics, sometimes in opposition of each other. Only at the end of the book did I realize I had watched the show The Pursuit of Love, which was based on the main character’s novel.

While this book led me down a fun historical rabbit hole on Wikipedia, it left me wanting to go deeper into the characters and the story. For example, two of the characters held opposing extreme political beliefs from when they were children - with Hitler and Stalin posters adorning each side of their room. Huh?? What is the story behind that?! This seems very unusual and warrants more digging. Some of their parents’ unusual parenting methods were mentioned it never went deep enough. I was left feeling like I was just getting snippets of historical facts without a deeper dive into the characters that I would expect in a novel.

Overall, though, I did enjoy it and learned something new.

I received an advance copy of The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. Anything Marie Benedict has written always been a huge hit with me! She's absolutely fantastic with historical fiction (which isn't always my favorite genre to read) but she makes me want to read this and live in this time period with these ladies. Such a good book! You will not be disappointed with this at all!

I’ve read and enjoyed several books by Marie Benedict. I love the beauty and depth of her writing and always appreciated reading her fictional stories because many portray strong women protagonists whose accomplishments were often overlooked or under appreciated by history. The Mitford Affair is a reimagination of the lives of the six Mitford sisters whose fascinated and scandalized British society with their beauty and style, glamorous lives, and public political divisions between fascism and communism.

Weaving fact with fiction, Benedict creates a fascinating tapestry that focuses on the more notorious sisters, Diana (the fascist), Unity (the Hitler-lover) and Nancy (the novelist) in the years leading up to WW2, revealing complicated sisterly bonds as loyalty and of for family and country come in to play amidst deep political differences.

Thank you to Sourcebook Landmark and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy of this fascinating story. This is my honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.

I enjoyed the historical aspects of this book. Having a plot that covers the end of WWI and WW2 is great. I have read another tale of this family and have loved reading about the sisters in various forms. Highly recommend this book.

Fair play! These broads are nuts!

Known as The Author, The Countrywomen, The Fascist, The Nazi, The Communist and The Duchess!!!, I've always wanted to read about the Milford Sisters..... So quintessentially Old English, with their plummy accents and tweed jackets!!

This book is told from the POVs of three of the sisters.. Nancy -The Author, Diana-The fascist and Unity -The Nazi. I went in blind, which I'm glad about as I had no idea how political the plot was, had I have known I might have been put off as I hate politics.... however I was hooked!

I quickly became obsessed by these head strong toffs! (Well not Unity, she was bonkers!). Although I didn't agree with most of their plights you can't help but admire these ladies for their brazen gumption even if they're not particularly likeable.. I've started listening to Take Six Girls on Audiobook now too as I can't get enough of these willfully headstrong girls.

It was interesting to look behind the scenes of pre-WW2.... Why any woman would want to cosy up to F##ing Hitler is beyond me...but it just goes to show his power of persuasion over so many!

I absolutely recommend to Historical fiction lovers. It's a winner