Across the front of the Harper Collins paperback edition of these letters is a quote by J.K. Rowling “The story of the extraordinary Mitford sisters has never been told as well as they tell it themselves”. Does the book live up to this endorsement? Yes it does, as much by what is omitted as is included, and these omissions I will come to later.
There is something in this correspondence for everyone. Admirers of Nancy Mitford, author of among many others, Love in a Cold Climate and that extraordinary biography The Sun King, will not be disappointed. Her relationship with Gaston Palewski is explored by all the sisters, and commented on with, at times, not quite heartfelt sympathy. Her final illness, before the days of full pain control, is graphically recounted. After her death, Palewski is reported to have been deflated at not being mentioned in Nancy’s will despite the fact that, just prior to her death, he had married her rival. Are all men this arrogant?
The period that is going to fascinate most people is that covering the 30s and 40s, and the story of the Mosley’s, Diana had married as her second husband, Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Fascist Union; and the unhappy short life of Unity, and her infatuation with Hitler. Balancing this is the socialism and ultimate communism of Jessica Mitford and her flirtation with the Spanish Civil War and her subsequent life in the United States of America. She became famous as an author in her own right, particularly for The American Way of Death, which was a sensational best seller when first published. After Nancy’s death, Jessica never spoke to Diana again; she couldn’t forgive her for the links to Nazi Germany. Thus are families divided, but with hindsight this seems a little unforgiving; half the British aristocracy were suspected of sympathising with the Nazi regime or being appeasers. The UK was still impoverished by the First World War and the depression and there was no mood for another European conflict. At the time, no one suspected that Stalin was an even worse monster than Hitler.
From the 50s on we have the advent of the Labour government in the UK, the Macmillan years, life in post-war Paris and life in post-war US of A including some rare insights into the Kennedy years.
Do we learn anything from this correspondence? Well, yes we do. We learn a great deal about family life and the psychology of dysfunctionalism; and we learn a great deal about European and World History in the 20th century, meeting many of the key political and cultural characters on route. Charlotte Mosley has done an excellent editing job, but somehow the story is still incomplete, and here we return to the omissions. One feels that never too far away is the guiding hand of Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, perhaps the most enigmatic of all the sisters, and the last remaining one. Little is revealed of her extraordinary story in turning Chatsworth from a bankrupt estate into one of the most successful conservation projects of last century. The political disunity of her siblings led her early to declare herself apolitical, a mask, she has rarely let slip since. Out of the six sisters she appears the kindest, the most loyal and the most practical in business terms. Her letters also reveal an incisive and witty understanding of human nature. Her views on some figures are not always in step with public sympathy, particularly the late Jackie Kennedy Onassis and the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Her public life really is a success story, but her private life may be different, we have glimpses but no in depth analysis from Charlotte. This must be right, we have had too much navel gazing from subjects still alive, and however much we may wish to find out the end of the story, hopefully we will have to wait a long time yet.
When the time comes, I hope it is Charlotte Mosley who writes the complete biography of the sisters, with the same warmth, intelligence and insight that shines through the editing and footnotes of this volume. I shall certainly be looking out other volumes of correspondence she has edited.
I have my own footnote to this story, Jessica’s daughter, Constancia, and grandson recently played a large role in the campaign to get Barack Obama elected President. Constancia is reported as saying that she received a letter of support from her aunt Debo, although it may have been tongue-in-cheek. I refer you to my last entry on the Duchess as to why I think that unlikely.
