Wait For Me! by deborah devonshire
from amazon;
Deborah Devonshire is a natural writer with a knack for the telling phrase and for hitting the nail on the head. She tells the story of her upbringing, lovingly and wittily describing her parents (so memorably fictionalised by her sister Nancy); she talks candidly about her brother and sisters, and their politics (while not being at all political herself), finally setting the record straight.
Throughout the book she writes brilliantly about the country and her deep attachment to it and those who live and work in it. As Duchess of Devonshire, Debo played an active role in restoring and overseeing the day-to-day running of the family houses and gardens, and in developing commercial enterprises at Chatsworth. She tells poignantly of the deaths of three of her children, as well as her husband's battle with alcohol addiction.
deborah is the youngest of the mitford sisters, her sister jessica wrote about the family in hons & rebels that i posted about a while back. she writes about her childhood feeling far removed from the oldest 4 of her siblings because of the age difference.
her sister unity introducing her to hitler where she played interpreter at a tea in his apartment. and goes into what it was like after her sister's suicide attempt. jessica's husband didn't like the family and after their marriage they were separated by distance (they moved to the u.s.) as well as politics (they were communists). deborah talks about the speculation that pam was a lesibian, but says she didn't understand people's interest in that & it's no ones business
she married andrew cavendish, younger son of the 10th duke of devonshire, in 1941. his older brother william, who was married to JFK's sister kathleen, was killed in WW2 & left him heir to the title, as well as several houses. the most famous being chatsworth which she and her husban managed to saved by the enhancement of the garden and the development of commercial activities such as chatsworth farm shop she said they sell stuff grown or made from tings produced on their property, other estates will have their "own label" but get the stuff from a factory that makes the same thing for 20 other places.
while looking at her wikipedia page, i discovered that she was the grandmother of stella tennant, the model who passed just before christmas. stella had a bit of the midford sisters look, the mouth and a bit of the eyes & maybe chin. her height of 5 foot 11 inches reminded me that in jessica's book she said that unity was the tallest of the sisters and to use the term they use today "big boned".
This entry was originally posted at https://archersangel.dreamwidth.org/308154.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Deborah Devonshire is a natural writer with a knack for the telling phrase and for hitting the nail on the head. She tells the story of her upbringing, lovingly and wittily describing her parents (so memorably fictionalised by her sister Nancy); she talks candidly about her brother and sisters, and their politics (while not being at all political herself), finally setting the record straight.
Throughout the book she writes brilliantly about the country and her deep attachment to it and those who live and work in it. As Duchess of Devonshire, Debo played an active role in restoring and overseeing the day-to-day running of the family houses and gardens, and in developing commercial enterprises at Chatsworth. She tells poignantly of the deaths of three of her children, as well as her husband's battle with alcohol addiction.
deborah is the youngest of the mitford sisters, her sister jessica wrote about the family in hons & rebels that i posted about a while back. she writes about her childhood feeling far removed from the oldest 4 of her siblings because of the age difference.
her sister unity introducing her to hitler where she played interpreter at a tea in his apartment. and goes into what it was like after her sister's suicide attempt. jessica's husband didn't like the family and after their marriage they were separated by distance (they moved to the u.s.) as well as politics (they were communists). deborah talks about the speculation that pam was a lesibian, but says she didn't understand people's interest in that & it's no ones business
she married andrew cavendish, younger son of the 10th duke of devonshire, in 1941. his older brother william, who was married to JFK's sister kathleen, was killed in WW2 & left him heir to the title, as well as several houses. the most famous being chatsworth which she and her husban managed to saved by the enhancement of the garden and the development of commercial activities such as chatsworth farm shop she said they sell stuff grown or made from tings produced on their property, other estates will have their "own label" but get the stuff from a factory that makes the same thing for 20 other places.
while looking at her wikipedia page, i discovered that she was the grandmother of stella tennant, the model who passed just before christmas. stella had a bit of the midford sisters look, the mouth and a bit of the eyes & maybe chin. her height of 5 foot 11 inches reminded me that in jessica's book she said that unity was the tallest of the sisters and to use the term they use today "big boned".
This entry was originally posted at https://archersangel.dreamwidth.org/308154.html. Please comment there using OpenID.