<B>The Publisher Says: The contrasting lives of the Mitford sisters—stylish, scandalous and tragic by turns—hold up a mirror to upper-class life before and after the Second World War.</B>

The eldest was a razor-sharp novelist of upper-class manners; the second was loved by John Betjeman; the third was a fascist who married Oswald Mosley; the fourth idolized Hitler and shot herself in the head when Britain declared war on Germany; the fifth was a member of the American Communist Party; the sixth became Duchess of Devonshire.

They were the Mitford sisters: Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah. Born into country-house privilege, they became prominent as ‘bright young things’ in the high society of interwar London. Then, as the shadows crept over 1930s Europe, the stark—and very public—differences in their outlooks came to symbolise the political polarities of a dangerous decade.

The intertwined stories of their lives—recounted in masterly fashion by Laura Thompson—hold up a revelatory mirror to upper-class English life before and after World War II.

<B>I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review</B>: I have read <I>The American Way of Death</I>. I have read <I>Love in a Cold Climate</I>. That these books were written by sisters never fails to astonish me. If you have not yet, read them to see just how little two sisters can share...the folks in Nancy’s novels own the corporations that rip off the bereaved in Jessica’s book.

The gossipy goodness of a big family that has oodles of money and wildly talented members is a cultural icon these days, thanks to <I>Succession</I> and its imitators...but honestly, what kind of world would we live in if we couldn’t look at the source material with a more compassionate eye? The Mitford sisters were not villainesses. They disagreed on a lot of things...but won’t any six people when examined as closely as their fame enabled the Mitfords to be? Nancy, the eldest, was not overtly political, yet spent her life among the people she grew up among, the wealthiest in the world. That did not prevent her from shopping Diana and her repugnant fascist husband Oswald Mosley to the Intelligence services during WWII. She might have been rich and upper class, but she had limits that could not be transgressed, including treasonous actions against the UK that the fascists led by her brother-in-law were planning. That did not extend to Decca, Jessica’s family nickname, and her leftist principles...despite Jessica being so committed to those principles that she allowed her own child to die rather than accept help from her family.

So, clearly, this is a juicy, gossipy read. Does that make it a worthwhile one? We are, as of this writing, in a time of wealth inequality as stark as the one in the Mitford sisters’ lives. The natural consequence of battle-lines being drawn is depersonalizing the Other Side, attributing inhuman levels of focus to Them, all against what Our Side...clearly the side of God and the Angels, self-evidently Right in all ways and destined to prevail over Them...thus excusing ourselves in advance from the annoying burden of empathy with people we disagree with.

What Author Thompson does in this book is give us the gory details of rich people’s lives, while bringing our attention to the immutable nature of Family in forming its members...would Nancy, the eldest, ever have been able to turn into the radical that late-in-order rebel Jessica, or middle-child Diana, did? Likely not. Her world, Thompson shows, is that much different from theirs. Like any big family, the Mitfords were a very mixed bag of people formed by the pressure cooker of differing expectations and opportunities into very, very different people. What looks from the outside like a bloc of wealth and privilege is, from a closer view, a forest of unique trees.

This is a useful reminder now, when we look at the Othering that is so prevalent in modern society. They are not Them, they are all part of Us. We are, in fact, always an Us, just like the Mitfords were.

The astonishing thing about this book is how extraordinarily different each of these sisters was. If you wrote this as fiction, no one would find it plausible and it wouldn't see the light of day. I did feel there could have been greater consideration given to structure and chronology.

The Mitford Sisters were such an electic mix of varying personalities and political ideologies. I don’t know if I would have liked any of them if I had ever met them, especially Unity. It was interesting to read about their lives, foibles, and follies.

So many characters and so much information! It was hard to keep up. By the half point I lost my interest. That's too bad because I was curious to read this book.

I was initially interested in this book because I loved Nancy Mitford's humourous semi fictional accounts of her family in her novels, " The Pursuit of Love" and "Love in a Cold Climate".
Thoroughly researched, but I found the almost worshipful prologue to be overwhelming and pedantic. It made me wonder how there was any material left to write about.
The rest of the book was interesting in parts, but is more than you'd ever want to know about anyone who has ever been alive.
I think it would be more fun to read the actual letters between the Sisters over the years.

interesting historical nonfiction that gives a nice view into the lives of sisters.
i found some aspects of this book a little bit difficult to follow and felt as if the author expected the reader to already have a basic knowledge about the mitford sisters -which i knew a little bit but not nearly enough about to completely understand some moments mentioned in this book. I didn't love that i felt as if i was missing a bit from the book simply because i expected a biography to give me information on a topic i wanted to learn more about but instead was expected to already y have at least a basic knowledge of what was going on.

All in all a good book but defiantly not for anyone that doesn't know anything or just basics about the mitford sisters.

The six Mitford sisters were notorious members of English society in the 20th century. And I guess that is why I was drawn to this book - all the sisters in one place so to speak.

I had a vague notion of of Nancy (author), but not really of the others: Pamela (farmer), Diana (fascist and great beauty of her day), Unity (fervent Nazi and companion of Hitler), Jessica (communist) and Deborah (chatelaine of Chatsworth House). The stories intertwine and finish up with a summary.

What Thompson provides is a glimpse into the lives of The Six, which makes for a perfect springboard into further reading about each of these women. It's not really my area of interest, so another collaborative biography would be the way to go, for myself personally.

Thank you for the chance to review this book, however, unfortunately, I was unable to download this title before it was archived

This story had so much potential. These were fascinating women in a fascinating time. However, the author spent a lot of time opining on what they could, should or maybe would have done....the opinions of the author took away from the overall story.

I've tried with this one, but just can not get into it. I don't know much about the Mitford sisters, but this one is simply not working for me. I tried to send this review without a star rating because I don't think it is fair to rate a book I have not finished. But the system is requiring it, so I will rate it 2 stars. If I had a choice though, I would not rate it due to the not finishing the read. I made it to roughly 14%.

I just couldn't make it through this. I tried several times, but no luck. The Mitford sisters are such an interesting group, but this book and attempted coverage of them all didn't do them justice.

Unfortunately, I was not familiar with the Mitford sisters so this literary biography was somewhat confusing. However, I found the historical aspects of the book fascinating. The author Laura Thompson, assumes that the reader is familiar with Nancy and Jessica Mitford fiction and begins the book by comparing real Mitford family life to the novels.

As the book moves on and the sisters grow-up the various paths they choose to follow and the WWII backdrop held my interest as did extreme sibling rivalry. I would recommend this book to Nancy Mitford fans with an interest in history. Without some knowledge of the fictional family created in the Mitford novels the book will miss the target.

Thank you to Ms. Thompson and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

Amazing! Filled with historical information, yet written in a delightful manner. You will be filled with tidbits that make this time in history come to life. Enjoy! NetGalley provided an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!Amazing and well written.

An intriguing glimpse into upper middle class English life in the 30s. A very good read.