The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family - Softcover

"A dazzling cast of characters... A rivetingly intimate history lesson." -- Anneli Rufus "Vivid social history that reads like a novel... An impressive group biography." -- Malinda Nash "These women were so powerfully, inescapably, passionately alive... The book remains engrossing from beginning to end." -- John Powers "Lovell deftly weaves together the various strands of her subjects' lives, making great use of letters, interviews and unpublished correspondence, as well as interviews with the two surviving Mitford sisters, Diana and Deborah." -- Matthew Price "This biography presents a fascinating family to a new generation of readers." -- Lisa Levy "Lovell rises with aplomb to the challenges of a group biography, deftly weaving together the narrative threads of six at times radically disparate lives to create a fascinating account of a fascinating family." "A captivating read." -- Amy Strong "The Mitfords' stories have been told over and over again, but... Lovell, utilizing previously unseen documents, explores the relationships between the sisters... and presents the utter 'fun' of this privileged but madcap family." -- Allen Weakland

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.