Wait for Me!: Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister
by Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitfo Devonshire | Biographies & Memoirs | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 1848541902 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 1848541902 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
Memoirs of the youngest Mitford sister.
A wishlist book for a very good friend.
What a lovely surprise. Thank you!
When it first came out, I was interested in reading it, so I was pleasantly surprised to be send this some months ago.
Deborah Devonshire writes about the gilded past of the rich and influential of whom she was very much part of. Certainly not the past of most people who cannot rub shoulders with PMs, royals and other influential people as part of their family and friends.
I had to laugh when she wrote about being unable to pay for this or that dress. I cannot say that I really feel sorry for land rich but cash poor titled people who have to sell one of their numerous houses. Her father might have been cash poor but when she married into the Cavendish estate she certainly didn't have any money worries anymore. I checked and apparently her son, the current duke, is worth an estimated 800 milion GBP. If they have to sell part of their furniture/paintings/estates to pay for taxes, well, I'm not crying myself to sleep. ;) But I see why she would always vote Conservative over Labour. What I didn't like throughout the book was her uncritical view of Oswald Mosley. A faschist who supported Hitler, she was fond of him as her sister's second husband. Their internment during the war she looked critically on but not their politics.
I'm not all that surprised that she was so uncritical of Hitler. I guess extreme far right politics is not so uncommon among the wealthy as they will lose nothing by it but may gain a lot. Couple with that a lack of proper education, as seems to be the norm among the titled, and you get such a combination.
In any case, I enjoyed reading the book very much. It gave me a glimpse into an era past and at the same time probably not so very alien to a chosen few.
Deborah Devonshire writes about the gilded past of the rich and influential of whom she was very much part of. Certainly not the past of most people who cannot rub shoulders with PMs, royals and other influential people as part of their family and friends.
I had to laugh when she wrote about being unable to pay for this or that dress. I cannot say that I really feel sorry for land rich but cash poor titled people who have to sell one of their numerous houses. Her father might have been cash poor but when she married into the Cavendish estate she certainly didn't have any money worries anymore. I checked and apparently her son, the current duke, is worth an estimated 800 milion GBP. If they have to sell part of their furniture/paintings/estates to pay for taxes, well, I'm not crying myself to sleep. ;) But I see why she would always vote Conservative over Labour. What I didn't like throughout the book was her uncritical view of Oswald Mosley. A faschist who supported Hitler, she was fond of him as her sister's second husband. Their internment during the war she looked critically on but not their politics.
I'm not all that surprised that she was so uncritical of Hitler. I guess extreme far right politics is not so uncommon among the wealthy as they will lose nothing by it but may gain a lot. Couple with that a lack of proper education, as seems to be the norm among the titled, and you get such a combination.
In any case, I enjoyed reading the book very much. It gave me a glimpse into an era past and at the same time probably not so very alien to a chosen few.
