Mostly, we get a taste of Decca’s thirst for independence, particularly in her longing to go to school and her storing-up of a Running Away Fund. We see, for instance, them being dragged around by the Conservative Party – ‘Our car was decorated with Tory blue ribbons, and if we should pass a car flaunting the red badge of Socialism, we were allowed to lean out of the window and shout at the occupants: “Down with the horrible Counter-Honnish Labour Party!”.’ We get a child’s-eye-view of the various scandals Nancy causes.
This section of the book I loved, even without the full line-up of Mitfords. Just Unity, Debo, and Decca were left around – and it is the three of them who formed various bonds and antipathies. We do see some of Decca’s childhood – but by the time she was around in the nursery, her older siblings were more or less adults. The sort of thing we found in Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love – with the hons in the cupboard, the father hunting the children, and the various codes. I was expecting a biography of the eccentric Mitford childhood we (mostly) all know well. It would be amusing if Unity’s views were not so extreme. There are some pretty extraordinary descriptions of Decca and Unity setting up their shared bedroom into a Fascist and Communist split, with posters advocating their own politics on either side. I don’t fall as far left as Decca, but I’m pretty much a lefty – and we can all agree to band against the Fascist and Nazi beliefs of Diana and Unity Mitford. Partly this is because of my political leanings, I daresay. In actual fact, Jessica (or Decca, as she was known) comes across very sympathetically. But if it is acceptable to cheer on a biography because you like the writer so much (heart you, Debo), then it’s equally acceptable to do the reverse. And here, as with a novel, it isn’t the be all and end all. I’ll get in there early: if I were writing a scholarly book review, whether or not I like the woman would be completely immaterial.
Finally – FINALLY – I have read Hons and Rebels (1960). I was told I should read her letters and her books, and that thus I would come to like her more. The one whom I didn’t much like (besides Unity, obvs, though her regression after shooting herself is fascinating to see in letter-form) was Jessica. Debo has an eternal place in my heart, but, even though none of the others quite made it there, I still adored reading the letters between all six sisters.
It’s no secret that I’m a longstanding fan of the Mitfords – or, at least, of reading about them. I’ve borrowed this image from Karyn, who reviewed it here: (Hope that’s ok, Karyn!)
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