The Mitford Girls

'A cracking read ' Lynn Barber, Observer The Mitford Girls tells the true story behind the gaiety and frivolity of the six Mitford daughters - and the facts are as sensational as any novel: Nancy, whose bright social existence masked an obsessional doomed love which soured her success; Pam, a countrywoman married to one of the best brains in Europe; Diana, an iconic beauty, who was already married when at 22 she fell in love with Oswald Moseley, the leader of the British fascists; Unity, who romantically in love with Hitler, became a member of his inner circle before shooting herself in the temple when WWII was declared; Jessica, the family rebel, who declared herself a communist in the schoolroom and the youngest sister, Debo, who became the Duchess of Devonshire. This is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary family, containing much new material, based on exclusive access to Mitford archives.

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The Mitford Girls Guide to Life

The six Mitford girls were blessed with beauty, wit and talent, yet they led very distinct, cultural lives and not one sister, except for Diana and Unity, shared the same opinion or ideology. Nancy Mitford was the ultimate tease and her talent for mockery reformed the publishing industry in the 1930s and ‘40s. Indeed, the Mitford girls’ popularity provoked Jessica to label it ‘The Mitford Industry’. As individuals they exploited their attributes to the best of their abilities, and through difficult times they used laughter as their remedy. Their life experiences, although sometimes maddening, are a lesson to us all. How would the Mitford girls cope with the pressures and turmoil of modern life? Whether it is Pamela’s guide to throwing a jubilee party, Nancy's guide to fashion or Diana’s tips on how to stay young, this quirky and fact-filled book draws on rare and unpublished interviews and information to answer that question.

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The Mitford Girls

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Take Six Girls

'Wonderfully readable ... Emphasises their sheer extraordinariness and celebrates them' MAIL ON SUNDAY. 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.

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The Mitford Affair

***PLEASE NOTE: The Mitford Affair was previously published as Bright Young Dead*** 'Absolute blissikins. Set in 1925, The Mitford Affair is a delightful mashup of real and fictional characters' GUARDIAN As the glamour of the Bright Young Things crashes into the world of the Mitford sisters, their maid Louisa Cannon finds herself at the scene of a gripping murder mystery. Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford, but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighbouring the Mitford home. The police quickly identify the killer as a maid, Dulcie. But Louisa Cannon, chaperone to the Mitford girls and a former criminal herself, believes Dulcie to be innocent, and sets out to clear the girl's name . . . all while the real killer may only be steps away. PRAISE FOR THE MITFORD MURDERS SERIES 'An extraordinary meld of fact and fiction' GRAHAM NORTON 'A lively, entertaining, well-written whodunit' THE TIMES (crime book of the month) 'True and glorious indulgence. A dazzling example of a Golden Age mystery' DAISY GOODWIN 'Exactly the sort of book you might enjoy with the fire blazing, the snow falling. The solution is neat and the writing always enjoyable' ANTHONY HOROWITZ (crime novels of the year) 'Oh how delicious! This terrific start to what promises to be a must-read series is exactly what we all need in these gloomy times. Inventive, glittering, clever, ingenious. I devoured The Mitford Murders... so will you. Give it to absolutely everyone for Christmas, then pre-order the next one' SUSAN HILL 'All the blissful escapism of a Sunday-night period drama in a book' THE POOL 'Keeps the reader guessing to the very end. An accomplished crime debut and huge fun to read' EVENING STANDARD 'This story is drenched in detail and feels both authentic and fun. Curl up in your favourite reading spot and enjoy' HEAT 'The plan is that each book will focus on a different Mitford sister. On the strength of this initial entry, success is assured' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Elegant, whipsmart and brilliantly twisty-turny, this Downton-style mystery had me hooked from the first page' VIV GROSKOP 'Full of period pleasure' WOMAN & HOME 'An audacious and glorious foray into the Golden Age of mystery fiction. Breathtaking' ALEX GRAY 'A real murder, a real family and a brand new crime fiction heroine are woven together to make a fascinating, and highly enjoyable, read. I loved it' JULIAN FELLOWES 'Jessica Fellowes' deliciously immersive, effortlessly easy novel has a strong feel for period and a rollicking plot' METRO 'What a captivating crime novel and heroine Jessica has created in The Mitford Murders. The instant reassurance of being in the hands of a true storyteller with a feel for period detail makes this a real treat' AMANDA CRAIG 'This is a chocolate soufflé of a novel: as the enthralling mystery heats up, so the addictive deliciousness of the story rises. The sort of book you never want to end' JULIET NICOLSON

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The Mitford Society

Celebrate all things Mitford with stories, features and essays on the Mitford girls and their contemporaries, including the much loved Mitford Tease. With contributions from: Meems Ellenberg; Lyndsy Spence; Kathy Hillwig; Annabel Abbs; Terence Towles Canote; Alan Stafford; Claire Meadows; Kim Place-Gateau; Michelle Morrissette; Chiara Martinelli The content includes: Friends and Frenemies: A Mitford Tease; The Muse: Diana Mitford and Helleu; A Very Mitford Reading; Lucia Joyce: The Pioneering Modern Dancer That Almost Was; Pam and Betje: An Enduring Friendship; Beaten by Beaton: Doris Delevingne and her Love Affair with Cecil Beaton; The Company She Kept: Unity Mitford and her Friends;Too Naked for the Nazis: How Betty Knox Went From Chorus Line to Front Line; Lady Bridget Parsons: The Pursuit of Love by; Literary Ladies: The Fictional Worlds of Nancy Mitford, Elizabeth Jane Howard and Lucia Berlin; The Big Tease: How Olivia de Havilland Fell for Nancy Mitford; In The Footsteps of the Mitfords; Debo and Cake: A Royal Friendship; Lady Irene Curzon: A Dim View of Diana; Private Enemy Number One; Camelot in the Derbyshire Dales; The President and The Duchess; Only the Sister: Angela du Maurier; Nancy Mitford and Harold Acton: A Life-long Friendship

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The Sisters The Saga of the Mitford Family

"Fascinating, the way all great family stories are fascinating."—Robert Gottlieb, New York Times Book Review This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the world wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; beautiful Diana married the Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley; and Unity, a close friend of Hitler, shot herself in the head when England and Germany declared war. The Mitfords had style and presence and were mercilessly gifted. Above all, they were funny—hilariously and mercilessly so. In this wise, evenhanded, and generous book, Mary Lovell captures the vitality and drama of a family that took the twentieth century by storm and became, in some respects, its victims.

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The Mitfords Letters between Six Sisters

Carefree, revelatory and intimate, this selection of unpublished letters between the six legendary Mitford sisters, compiled by Diana Mitford’s daughter-in-law, is alive with wit, passion and heartbreak.

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The Six

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Riveting. The Six captures all the wayward magnetism and levity that have enchanted countless writers without neglecting the tragic darkness of many of the sisters’ life choices and the savage sociopolitical currents that fueled them.” – Tina Brown, The New York Times Book Review 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 in the early years of the 20th century, 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 symbolize the political polarities of a dangerous decade. The intertwined stories of their stylish and scandalous lives—recounted in masterly fashion by Laura Thompson—hold up a revelatory mirror to upper-class English life before and after WWII. The Six was previously published as Take Six Girls.

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The House of Mitford

Among the six daughters and one son born to David, second Lord Redesdale, and his wife Sydney were Nancy, the novelist and historian; Diana, who married fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, friend of Hitler; Jessica, who became a communist and then an investigative journalist; and Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire and mistress of Chatsworth. 'The Mitford Girls', as John Betjeman called them, were one of the twentieth century's most controversial families; said to be always either in shrieks of laughter or floods of tears, they were glamorous, romantic and - especially in politics - extreme. Yet the teasing, often bordering on cruelty, the flamboyant contrasts and the violent disagreements, hid a powerful affection, subtle likenesses in character and a powerful underlying unity.

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Mitford Girls Hb Special

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Mitford Girls Hb Book Club

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The Other Mitford

Pamela Jackson, née Mitford, is perhaps the least well known of the illustrious Mitford sisters, and yet her story is just as captivating, and more revealing. Despite shunning the bright city lights that her sisters so desperately craved, she was very much involved in the activities of her extraordinary family, picking up the many pieces when things went disastrously wrong – which they so often did. Joining her sisters on many adventures, including their meeting with Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, Pamela quietly observed the bizarre, funny and often tragic events that took place around her. Through her eyes, we are given a view of the Mitfords never seen before. ‘Loyal to the core,’ she possessed ‘the constancy and kindness that underpinned the wilder exploits of the Mitford family. Indeed, innocence, along with courage and kindness, was one of her remarkable qualities. But it was the innocence of a woman who had lived and suffered, loved and lost, and overcome adversity’. Journalist Diana Alexander, who was Pamela’s friend for many years, here reveals the unknown Mitford, or, as her lifelong admirer John Betjeman described her, ‘Gentle Pamela’.

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Bright Young Dead

"True and glorious indulgence. A dazzling example of a golden age mystery." —Daisy Goodwin, author of Victoria and The American Heiress on The Mitford Murders Set amid the legendary Mitford household, Bright Young Dead is the second in the thrilling, Golden Age-style Mitford Murders series by Jessica Fellowes, author of the New York Times bestselling Downton Abbey books. Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford, but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighbouring the Mitford home. The police quickly identify the killer as a maid, Dulcie. But Louisa Cannon, chaperone to the Mitford girls and a former criminal herself, believes Dulcie to be innocent, and sets out to clear the girl's name . . . all while the real killer may only be steps away.

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Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education Correspondence Financial Statements Etc and Reports by Her Majesty s Inspectors of Schools

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Decca

Over her 78 years, Decca's letters are the most tangible tracks left of a remarkable life - from her childhood as the daughter of a British peer (Lord Redesdale) to her scandalous elopement to the Spanish Civil War with her cousin Esmond Romilly, to her life in the United States, where she married a radical lawyer, Robert Treuhaft in San Francisco. The Mitford girls (five sisters) included Diana (who married the British fascist leader Oswald Mosley), Unity (who was close to Adolf Hitler) and Debo (who became the Duchess of Devonshire). Decca shocked them all when she joined the American Communist Party. Her letters are the stories of a century: gossip and politics, war and mores, the wonders of rapid technological change, the poignancy of personal struggles. They are also a record of her never-ending quest for social justice. Her letters were also a rehearsal for her published works (which included her memoir, HONS AND REBELS and her investigative masterpiece, THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH), which refined the first observations she threw into her letters. This is a fascinating collection that reveals to us intimately the most ebullient Mitford of them all.

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New Society

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The Pursuit of Laughter

Like her five literary sisters, Diana Mitford has written widely, not only on her own fascinating, controversial life, but also on her friends, who happened to be the leading political and social figures of the day.

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The Children of the Great King A Tale of the Crimean War By M atilda H orsburgh

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The children of the great king by M H

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