Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford
from amazon;
Jessica Mitford, the great muckraking journalist, was part of a legendary English aristocratic family. Her sisters included Nancy, doyenne of the 1920s London smart set and a noted novelist and biographer; Diana, wife to the English fascist chief Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, who fell head over in heels in love with Hitler; and Deborah, later the Duchess of Devonshire. Jessica swung left and moved to America, where she took part in the civil rights movement and wrote her classic exposé of the undertaking business, The American Way of Death.
Hons and Rebels is the hugely entertaining tale of Mitford's upbringing, which was, as she dryly remarks, “not exactly conventional. . . Debo spent silent hours in the chicken house learning to do an exact imitation of the look of pained concentration that comes over a hen's face when it is laying an egg. . . . Unity and I made up a complete language called Boudledidge, unintelligible to any but ourselves, in which we translated various dirty songs (for safe singing in front of the grown-ups).”
But Mitford found her family's world as smothering as it was singular and, determined to escape it, she eloped with Esmond Romilly, Churchill's nephew, to go fight in the Spanish Civil War. The ensuing scandal, in which a British destroyer was dispatched to recover the two truants, inspires some of Mitford's funniest, and most pointed, pages. A family portrait, a tale of youthful folly and high-spirited adventure, a study in social history, a love story, Hons and Rebels is a delightful contribution to the autobiographer's art.
jessica mitford was from an impoverished english aristocratic family, they were related to the churchills, that if they weren't an english aristocratic family would be considered insane. as it was, they were only considered eccentric. her mother must've been one of the original anti-vaxxers. she didn't trust doctors, insisting that "the good body" would heal itself.
the girls had little formal schooling, the only son was sent trough the typical course of schooling for an english aristocrat, eaton & such. it was amazing that 3 out of 6 girls wrote books, considering their lack of education.
most of the family had leanings towards fascism, or were full on fascists, most supported franco during the spanish civil war. the author, jessica, became a communist. unity became a nazi.
Jessica Mitford, the great muckraking journalist, was part of a legendary English aristocratic family. Her sisters included Nancy, doyenne of the 1920s London smart set and a noted novelist and biographer; Diana, wife to the English fascist chief Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, who fell head over in heels in love with Hitler; and Deborah, later the Duchess of Devonshire. Jessica swung left and moved to America, where she took part in the civil rights movement and wrote her classic exposé of the undertaking business, The American Way of Death.
Hons and Rebels is the hugely entertaining tale of Mitford's upbringing, which was, as she dryly remarks, “not exactly conventional. . . Debo spent silent hours in the chicken house learning to do an exact imitation of the look of pained concentration that comes over a hen's face when it is laying an egg. . . . Unity and I made up a complete language called Boudledidge, unintelligible to any but ourselves, in which we translated various dirty songs (for safe singing in front of the grown-ups).”
But Mitford found her family's world as smothering as it was singular and, determined to escape it, she eloped with Esmond Romilly, Churchill's nephew, to go fight in the Spanish Civil War. The ensuing scandal, in which a British destroyer was dispatched to recover the two truants, inspires some of Mitford's funniest, and most pointed, pages. A family portrait, a tale of youthful folly and high-spirited adventure, a study in social history, a love story, Hons and Rebels is a delightful contribution to the autobiographer's art.
jessica mitford was from an impoverished english aristocratic family, they were related to the churchills, that if they weren't an english aristocratic family would be considered insane. as it was, they were only considered eccentric. her mother must've been one of the original anti-vaxxers. she didn't trust doctors, insisting that "the good body" would heal itself.
the girls had little formal schooling, the only son was sent trough the typical course of schooling for an english aristocrat, eaton & such. it was amazing that 3 out of 6 girls wrote books, considering their lack of education.
most of the family had leanings towards fascism, or were full on fascists, most supported franco during the spanish civil war. the author, jessica, became a communist. unity became a nazi.