Deborah Devonshire - Wait for Me

review by Babs on show 19th May
This is one of the best autobiographies I have ever read. This Duchess is so down to earth and funny about herself and others, as well as full of compassion that you feel you know her well by the end of the book.

Deborah is the youngest of the famous Mitford sisters, all of whom were of great interest to the public in their day (sort of 1930s “celebrities” you could say)

Nancy became a famous and popular author, Jessica upset the Americans by writing a brilliant expose about the American way of death, Diana married British Fascist leader while Unity became totally infatuated with Adolph Hitler. Pamela, the other sister, and Deborah were the most conventional in an extraordinary family. There was also a brother, Tom, who died in the World War II – a terrible loss to all his family.
Deborah married Andrew Cavendish when she was 21 and shortly afterwards he succeeded to the title of 11th Duke of Devonshire. Instead of taking life easy, she became involved in the restoration and upkeep of the various houses that came with the title, in particular Chatsworth in Derbyshire which I am sure many of you will have visited. It is an absolutely magnificent house, full of treasures of every conceivable sort and was in a terrible state of disrepair when Deborah took over. That she did a wonderful job is quite apparent to the many thousands of visitors.

The story of her life is incredibly interesting. She and Andrew were in Washington as guests of J.F Kennedy at his inauguration in 1961 and again in 1963 for his untimely funeral. She describes all the people she has met and become friendly with throughout her long life with great insight and affection and her love for her somewhat difficult siblings shines through. Although she leads would can be accurately described as a very privileged life, it has not been without tragedy including the awful loss of three of her own babies and the fact that the husband she adored was an alcoholic for most of his life. But she is neither self-pitying nor over-dramatic in any of her descriptions. These things happened and they were dreadful, but it isn’t really anyone else’s business outside the family. How very different from today’s headlines about “my cheating husband”, “my battle with addiction”, etc. etc. that we are subjected to so very frequently these days. Indeed, she says that if Andrew, her late husband, had not described his alcoholism in his own autobiography, she would not have touched on it in her own. What a marvellous, discreet, dignified way to lead your life.

Anyway as I have said, there is a lot of very funny humour in the book, the tales of aristocratic life from debutante balls to diplomatic trips abroad are absolutely fascinating, her obvious love for the countryside and people in it all make me wish I could meet this lady. Her book is an absolute joy to read and I am so glad I have been able to do so.
review by Babs

Mary S Lovell - THE MITFORD GIRLS

review by Babs Simpson on show 16th june
Having just Deborah Devonshire's autobiograhy, I was interested to find ou more about her and her sisters and this biography certainly supplies masses of facts and very interesting detail. But it is far more that plain facts. The author has obviously researched her subject meticulously and the resulting book is an extremely good read.

The Mitford sisters - Nancy, Pamela,Diana, Unity, Decca and Debo - were all beautiful as well as being exceptionally intelligent women, despite being denied any sort of intellectual education. They all wrote well, Nancy and Jessica becoming very famous in their day for amusing and witty novels. There was great conflict in the family. Their father, Lord Redesale, was a dyed-in-the-wool Tory, as was to be expected, and when some of the girls became politically aware with Jessica espousing the Communist cause and Unity passionately supporting Hitler and the Nazis, great rifts ocurred, some of which never healed. In fact, so distraught was Unity at the declaration of war betwen her beloved England and her adopted and equally loved Germany, that she attempted suicide. That the attempt was unsuccessful was a mixed blessing because she suffered severe brain damage and her life was virtually over.

The other girls married and had children but all of them had tragedies and disappointment, their parents eventually separated and despite such a privileged background, they were not immune from the difficulties we all face during life.

Mary Lovell has produced a fascinating, detailed and great biography that manages to be quite unputdownable!
review by Babs