

An edition of The six (2016)
the lives of the Mitford sisters
By Laura Thompson
Publish Date
2016
Publisher
St. Martin's Press
Language
eng
Pages
388
Description:
Six glamorous women: Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah. Born into privilege, the Mitford sisters were the "bright young things" of high society London in the 1920s and 1930s. 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. But as the shadow of Fascism crept over Europe, the stark--and very public--differences in their outlooks would reflect the political extremes of a dangerous era. The eldest was a razor-sharp novelist of upper-class manners; the second was loved by British poet laureate John Betjeman; the third was a Fascist who married Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists; 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. The intertwined stories of their stylish and scandalous lives hold up a revelatory mirror to upper-class English life before and after World War II. --Adapted from dust jacket.
subjects: Sisters, English Women authors, Biography, English Authors, Mitford, nancy, 1904-1973, Women authors, Authors, biography, Great britain, biography, Mitford family, nyt:culture=2016-10-09, New York Times bestseller, New York Times reviewed
People: Pamela Mitford (1907-1994), Nancy Mitford (1904-1973), Diana Mosley (1910-2003), Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford Cavendish Devonshire Duchess of (1920-2014), Jessica Mitford (1917-1996), Unity Mitford (1914-1948), Mitford family
Places: Great Britain
Times: 20th century