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The Mitford sisters were the great wits and beauties of their time. Immoderate in their passions for ideas and people, they counted among their diverse friends Adolf Hitler and Queen Elizabeth II, Cecil Beaton and President Kennedy, Evelyn Waugh and Givenchy.

The Mitfords offers an unparalleled look at these privileged siblings through their own unabashed correspondence. Spanning the twentieth century, the magically vivid letters of the legendary Mitfords constitute a superb social and historical chronicle and an intimate portrait of the stormy but enduring relationships between six beautiful, gifted, and radically different women.

Average Customer Rating:

Overwhelming but so good!

Customer Rating:

I have been a Mitford aficionado since I stumbled across a copy of The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, by Nancy Mitford, with a foreword by Jessica Mitford which commented that the Radletts were based on the Mitfords. I loved the novels, and was intrigued by the Mitford legend, so I started looking for other stuff about them. A quarter of a century later, I have read all of Nancy's novels, Jessica's autobiographies, Diana's same, and number biographies, including the Jonathan and Catherine Guinness history of the family, starting with David Mitford's grandfather. This book of letters is a treasure trove for me. To hear them in their own voices, through the medium of print is to really see them the most clearly. All of them wrote and expressed themselves wonderfully, even Pam with her dictionary at her side. To see the events of their lives directly through their eyes and to see each sister through the eyes of the other five is equally illuminating. They all seemed to both love and hate each other passionately. The most perceptive letter was one by, I think, Deborah, about Diana, which stated that she felt that Diana had to uphold her husband, Oswald Mosley all her life after the end of their imprisonment because to not do so would mean that she would have to admit that her life was wasted and that she sacrificed so much for nothing. A chilling truth. Diana was probably the most intelligent of the sisters, from sources I have read, but she had to make herself not see truth in order to live with what she had done. Diana is, to me, the most pathetic of the sisters, followed by Nancy and her prickliness and her love for a man who didn't love her. What a story. I only wish now for a collection of the mother's letters, which are referred to in the daughters'. Their parents fascinate me as much as they do themselves. Oh, Ms. Mosley......!

what a family!	Customer Rating:
This type of family is probably gone, the interactions among these sisters reflecting their parents, their eclectic upbringing and their raging intelligence in a time that valued none of the above is fascinating.

Engaging. . .In a Way

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I tend to agree with the reviewer who found this collection a bit too long. As an avid reader of letters (mostly literary) I was interested to read these as references to the Mitford sisters turn up in many collections of the early 20th Century. I was by turns drawn to and annoyed by these letters. The most tiresome of the bunch is Unity -- a full blown nazi who shot herself when England declared war with Germany in 1942. Unfortunately, her aim was like her politics and she missed thus returning to England a veritable idiot who depended on the kindness of her mother, another Nazi sympathizer. Diana married Sir Mosley -- another nazi -- and spent her years defending his politics. Nancy took up a life in France fell in love with a man who did not return her affections and wrote a number of novels popular in their time. Jessica came to the United States, married an America, and took up the cause of civil rights here. Of course her sisters were put off by her Americanization; (Nancy and Diana had little if any affection for Yanks). So yes, the letters are interesting but one also asks "who cares?" These were women of privilege who, with the exception of Jessica, never did much to recommend themselves.

The Mitfords:Letters Between Sisters

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A fascinating collection but too long -- also I feel likely of limited interest unless one is British, and was alive and aware of this family at the time these letters were writtten, otherwise too many explanatory footnotes would be necessary. Nevertheless, a rare glimpse into a period that was unique, and likely a surprising portrait of a family who lived, considering their place in upper-class English society, "outside the box".

Reading between the lines

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3/31/08 The page on nicknames,The index, The footnotes, The profiles of the sisters and The photos make this extra weighty book become the fascination that most books of so many pages often fail to do..;of help, thanks to the book's editorial genius is : the ability of readers to note what the sisters had in common vs where they disagreed and when and to whom they wrote lengthy and/ or more confidential letter ..., whom they implored for help (even to wanting a health care provider in the hospital to be threatened to be less spartan)..also " continuous scanning of index cross referencing due to footnotes or in specific letters plus being informed from "the profiles" who was the "nazi",or "fascist",or "communist",or " quiet /country girl' or "wit /writer" or "elitess/socialite" ...The surviving sister , the socialite ,who was "apolitical" ,has made their saving of their letters to share with others not in vain;: a glimpse into the world in which the privileged often choose to travel . Their "bios" will probably benefit the "privileged readers "the most, as this book reminds them via "one(s) of their own" that right decisions guarantee more than the values of family status,money and/or power.