This family biography considers the consequences of competing ideologies--Communist, royalist, and Fascist--on a twentieth- century English family, which happened to include four best-selling authors. Chapters trace the family's fate, epoch by epoch, from 1894 to 2000, with particular attention to the period 1929 to 1947. Twenty-four pages of black and white photographs support the narrative. Lovell is a noted biographer and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

In her history of England's Mitford sisters, who were major figures in the international political, literary and social scenes for much of the 20th century, Lovell (The Sound of Wings: The Biography of Amelia Earhart; etc.) 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. Born into the ranks of the minor aristocracy and educated at home by eccentric and perennially cash-strapped parents, Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah Mitford hardly seemed the types whose exploits would generate endless fodder for the sensationalist press. But when Diana left her wealthy young husband to take up with and eventually marry Sir Oswald Mosley, infamous leader of British fascism; when Unity became close friends with Adolf Hitler and a proponent of Nazism; when Jessica, a vocal Communist, eloped with a notorious cousin who was also a nephew of Winston Churchill; when Deborah married the Duke of Devonshire; and when both Nancy (Love in a Cold Climate) and Jessica (The American Way of Death) became acclaimed, bestselling authors, the world responded with avid, insatiable and at times alarmingly intrusive curiosity. But whether adored or reviled by their public, all the Mitford sisters were engaged with (and at times embodiments of) the major social and political issues of their time. Lovell's account of the sisters' upbringing and their often tumultuous adult lives is as lively and engrossing as Nancy's heavily autobiographical fiction; the group biography also does a commendable job of separating the myths that fiction created from the sometimes more mundane realities of the Mitfords' activities and relationships. 16 pages of photos not seen by PW. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Lovell's biography of the Mitford sisters illustrates "the complex loyalties and love, disloyalties and even hate, and above all the laughter that ran through this family's relationships." Lovell (A Rage To Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton) presents an engrossing narrative that captures the distinct personalities of six headstrong, determined, and witty women who had a surprisingly pervasive impact on 20th-century social, political, and literary history. At the heart of the biography is Unity Mitford, who was obsessed with Adolf Hitler and widely rumored to be his mistress. In the telling of Unity's saga, Lovell's extreme evenhandedness can be exasperating. Unity sent a letter to a German newspaper, for example, exclaiming, "I am a Jew hater," but Lovell withholds comment or condemnation. While Unity provides the most dramatic story, the lives of the other sisters-Jessica, a Communist; Debo, Dutchess of Devonshire; Diana, wife of Fascist leader Oswald Mosley; novelist Nancy; and Pamela-are also excellently narrated and seamlessly woven together. While this is not the first biography of the Mitford family, and full biographies have been written about three of the sisters, Lovell claims to have drawn upon "personal interviews, family papers and correspondence not previously seen outside the family." If you can overlook the biography's occasional reticence about the horrific political realities of Nazism in the 1930s and 1940s, this is a captivating read.-Amy Strong, South Portland, MECopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Family Tree	ix
Introduction	1
1 Victorian Roots, 1894-1904	9
2 Edwardian Afternoon, 1904-15	19
3 Nursery Days, 1915-22	39
4 Roaring Twenties, 1922-9	63
5 Bright Young Things, 1929-30	101
6 The Stage is Set, 1930-32	113
7 Slings and Arrows, 1932-4	147
8 Unity and the Fuhrer, 1934-5	168
9 Secret Marriage, 1935-7	192
10 Elopement, 1937	217
11 Family at Odds, 1937-8	241
12 Slide towards Conflict, 1938	262
13 No Laughing Matter, 1939	281
14 Irreconcilable Differences, 1940-41	305
15 Gains and Losses, 1941-3	337
16 Women at War, 1943-4	359
17 The French Lady Writer, 1944-7	385
18 Truth and Consequences, 1948-55	410
19 Return to the Old Country, 1955-8	428
20 A Cold Wind to the Heart, 1958-66	457
21 Views and Reviews, 1966-80	482
22 Relatively Calm Waters, 1980-2000	506
Source Notes	530
Acknowledgements and Credits	577
Select Bibliography	581
Index	585

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