In 1932, Diana Mitford was still married to the heir to the Guinness fortune, with two young sons and all the material things she could dream of. She shows how a family with some propensity toward fascist views could spawn activists who worked hard to promote and seek change in British governance toward fascism even after the war commenced. While this period in the lives of the family was generally known to me, through reading about them in articles and a biography, Benedict’s wonderfully researched telling of the political turns taken by some of the family provides more detail and context to what seems like political madness, but can easily be viewed as a very contemporary tale. She was the eldest child and some years older than the other two sisters who are the focus of this novel, Diana and Unity. Much of the story is told from Nancy Mitford’s point of view. In this historical fiction novel, Marie Benedict initially takes us to a time a few years before the start of WWII, as some members of the family increasingly became attracted to the growth of fascism in Germany and Italy. The Milfords of the 20th century, an aristocratic British family with six daughters and a son remain fascinating to us long after the deaths of the original players. For those who have not heard much about them, this review has some spoilers. NOTE: I assume in writing this that many readers are generally familiar with the lives of the Milford family l and of the period covered by this novel in particular.
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