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A review by maplessence
Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters by Laura Thompson
3.0
3.5★
I read a lot of British Golden Age mysteries. They are full of stock characters & one of the most prevalent was The Wide-Eyed Ingenue who is overly dramatic, says (gasp) Such Things, but is forgiven because she is young & beautiful. Reading this biography you realise the six Mitford sisters were the templates.
Thompson seems similarly indulgent, particularly of Diana who she met & appears to hero worship. I wouldn't go as far to say I worship the eldest sister Nancy
but I am enormous admirer of her biographies & the one novel of hers I've read [bc:The Blessing|31559915|The Blessing|Nancy Mitford|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471658529s/31559915.jpg|148207] and it was very much a shock to find my idol had feet of clay. In fact feet???? The clay would go right up to her neck!
Most shocking was Nancy's betrayal of Diana. My first revulsion is now replaced by an understanding of how terrible a fascist world would have been, but to have urged a second time for Diana not to be released from prison when she was an unwell (but not broken) woman I find hard to understand - in particular when she knew how appalling the conditions were & that Diana & her second husband the infamous Oswald Mosley were kept in.
But Nancy gets less time from the author than Diana & Unity do - possibly because Thompson has already written a biography of Nancy [bc:Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford|1626801|Life in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford|Laura Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328821541s/1626801.jpg|1620858] Thompson suggests Unity was mentally ill which would certainly explain her hysterical adoption of the Nazi cause. I find this photo chilling;
Picture taken in Munich. Unity is wearing a uniform of Mosley's Black Shirts.
The other three sisters (Jessica, Pamela & Deborah) get relatively little page time. Pamela (who I think was an interesting character) gets less page time than the only Mitford boy Tom. Until reading this book I didn't know there was a brother!
Left to right: Unity, Tom, Deborah, Diana, Jessica,Nancy, Pamela
Like both Pamela & Deborah his views were right wing - just not as hard core as Diana & Unity. If I read a further biography I would like one of all seven siblings.
& I may look for a biography of Jessica - fascinating that her views were so diametrically opposed to her siblings & parents. At the time being a Communist would have been seen as worse that a Fascist. Now???
Edit; because forgot to mention that this book had one of the worst prologues I have read in quite some time!
I read a lot of British Golden Age mysteries. They are full of stock characters & one of the most prevalent was The Wide-Eyed Ingenue who is overly dramatic, says (gasp) Such Things, but is forgiven because she is young & beautiful. Reading this biography you realise the six Mitford sisters were the templates.
Thompson seems similarly indulgent, particularly of Diana who she met & appears to hero worship. I wouldn't go as far to say I worship the eldest sister Nancy
but I am enormous admirer of her biographies & the one novel of hers I've read [bc:The Blessing|31559915|The Blessing|Nancy Mitford|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471658529s/31559915.jpg|148207] and it was very much a shock to find my idol had feet of clay. In fact feet???? The clay would go right up to her neck!
Most shocking was Nancy's betrayal of Diana. My first revulsion is now replaced by an understanding of how terrible a fascist world would have been, but to have urged a second time for Diana not to be released from prison when she was an unwell (but not broken) woman I find hard to understand - in particular when she knew how appalling the conditions were & that Diana & her second husband the infamous Oswald Mosley were kept in.
But Nancy gets less time from the author than Diana & Unity do - possibly because Thompson has already written a biography of Nancy [bc:Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford|1626801|Life in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford|Laura Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328821541s/1626801.jpg|1620858] Thompson suggests Unity was mentally ill which would certainly explain her hysterical adoption of the Nazi cause. I find this photo chilling;
Picture taken in Munich. Unity is wearing a uniform of Mosley's Black Shirts.
The other three sisters (Jessica, Pamela & Deborah) get relatively little page time. Pamela (who I think was an interesting character) gets less page time than the only Mitford boy Tom. Until reading this book I didn't know there was a brother!
Left to right: Unity, Tom, Deborah, Diana, Jessica,Nancy, Pamela
Like both Pamela & Deborah his views were right wing - just not as hard core as Diana & Unity. If I read a further biography I would like one of all seven siblings.
& I may look for a biography of Jessica - fascinating that her views were so diametrically opposed to her siblings & parents. At the time being a Communist would have been seen as worse that a Fascist. Now???
Edit; because forgot to mention that this book had one of the worst prologues I have read in quite some time!