Julie is back for this month's installment of Look!Book!:
Lately I have been on a bit of an Anglo-binge, fueled by the fantastic mini-series Downton Abbey and by reading The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters.
Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah Mitford are from a very privileged and connected English family (trivia: model Stella Tennant is Deborah’s grand-daughter). Known to be the great wits and beauties of their time, the sisters were also prolific letter writers. This book captures correspondence between the girls from 1925 until 2003 and is filled with humour, eccentricity and its fair share of controversy. A massive tome, I first read parts of The Mitfords in manuscript form back in London. I loved it then but never had a chance to dig in for more than a few pages at a time. Reading it again now, I am transfixed by the sisters’ hilarious gushing, obscure nicknames and secret languages, for example in this note from Deborah to Diana in 1965:
I had letters from you & The Lady* & Henderson** today, wouldn’t it be dread if
one had a) no sisters b) sisters who didn’t write.
* Nancy
** Jessica
I can’t even remember the last time I got a letter in the post, but am now utterly determined to write more of them. Speaking of letters, how sweet is Bre’s card from her Grandma?
~ Julie
