The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1841157902 ISBN 13: 9781841157900

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2007

Synopsis

The never-before published letters of the legendary Mitford sisters, alive with wit, affection, tragedy and gossip: a charismatic history of the century’s signal events played out in the lives of a controversial and uniquely gifted family.

Spanning the twentieth century, these magically vivid letters between the legendary Mitford sisters constitute not just a superb social and historical chronicle (what other family counted among its friends Hitler and the Queen, Cecil Beaton and President Kennedy, Evelyn Waugh and Givenchy?); they also give an intimate portrait of the stormy but enduring relationship between six beautiful and gifted women who emerged from the same stock, incarnated the same indomitable spirit, yet carved out starkly different roles and identities for themselves.

Nancy, the scalding wit who transferred her family life into bestselling novels; Pamela, who craved nothing more than a quiet country life; Diana, the fascist jailed with her husband, Oswald Mosley, during WWII; Unity, an attempted suicide, obsessed with Hitler; Jessica, the runaway communist and fighter for social change; and Deborah, the genial socialite who found herself Duchess of Devonshire.

Writing to one another to confide, commiserate, tease, rage and gossip, the sisters wrote above all to amuse. A correspondence of this scope is rare, for it to be penned by six such born storytellers makes it unique.

Editor Charlotte Mosley – Diana Mitford's daughter-in-law – has had unrestricted access to the vast archive of family letters and photographs, most of which have never been published before.

About this title

About the Author

Charlotte Mosley is Diana Mitford’s daughter-in-law. She has worked as a publisher and journalist and was also the editor of ‘A Talent to Annoy: Essays, Articles and Reviews by Nancy Mitford’ (1986), ‘Love From Nancy: The Letters of Nancy Mitford’ (1993) and ‘The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh’ (1996).

From the Inside Flap

"A novelist would never get away with inventing this: a correspondance spanning eight decades, written from locations including Chatsworth and Holloway Prison, between six original and talented women who numbered among their friends Evelyn Waugh, Maya Angelou, J.F Kennedy and Adolf Hitler." J.K Rowling

Less inhibited than their memoirs and more intimate than the biographies written about them, this selection of unpublished letters between the six legendary Mitford sisters is alive with wit, hilarity, passion and heartbreak. The letters constitute not just an idiosyncratic social and historical chronicle of the 20th century, they also chart the stormy but enduring relationship between six beautiful and gifted women who incarnated the same indomitable spirit yet carved out starkly different roles and identities for themselves.

Nancy, the scalding wit who transferred her family life into bestselling novels; Pamela, who craved nothing more than a quiet country life; Diana, the fascist jailed with her husband, Oswald Mosley, during the Second World War; Unity, whose obsession with Hitler led to her attempted suicide; Jessica, the runaway communist and fighter for social change; and Deborah, the genial socialite who found herself Duchess of Devonshire.

Writing to one another to confide, commiserate, tease, rage and gossip, the sisters set out, above all, to amuse, and never lost the ability to laugh at themselves. A correspondance of this scope is rare, for it to be penned by six such born storytellers makes it unique.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841157902
• ISBN 13: 9781841157900
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 832
• Editor: Mosley Charlotte