The Hons' Cupboard, where Debo and I spent much of our time, still has the same distinctive, stuffy smell and enchanting promise of complete privacy from the Grown-ups.' Hanging on the walls are framed pictures and poems done by Unity when she was quite small-queer, imaginative, interesting work, some on a tiny scale of microscopic detail, some huge and magnificent. They were put there by my sister Unity and myself when we were children. 'In the windows, still to be seen, are swastikas carved into the glass with a diamond ring, and for every swastika a carefully delineated hammer and sickle. Unity befriended Nazi leader Hitler, who praised her as an ideal of Aryan beauty. Jessica was a supporter of Communism and eloped with her second cousin, Esmond Romilly, to fight with the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War, and Diana grew up to marry Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists. 'Jessica tells her tale with girlish gush, brilliantly preserved a generation after the events.Hons and Rebels, originally published in the United States under the title Daughters and Rebels, is a 1960 autobiography by political activist Jessica Mitford, which describes her aristocratic childhood and the conflicts between her and her sisters Unity and Diana, who were ardent supporters of Nazism. She tells the whole story of her rebellion with engaging frankness and a spirited, often humorous, enthusiasm.' (Richard McLaughlin, Springfield Republican)

'Jessica Mitford (the fifth of the Mitford daughters) has brought a whole generation back to life in her autobiography.

Although there's a strong undercurrent of seriousness throughout the book, it's submerged under downright hilariousness, crackling brash humor and enchanting turns-of-the-phrase.' ( San Francisco Chronicle) 'The admitted 'rich vein of lunacy' in the Mitford family apparently has done nothing to dim the brilliance of its members among whom Jessica must be included. It is a fascinating book.' ( New York Herald Tribune) There is a feeling of immediacy, as if it were all being written on the spot, at the time, by the teen-ager it was happening to. ' has a most unusual talent for recapturing the past. 'The story of Jessica Mitford's struggles makes tumultous and rewarding reading, and I recommend it heartily.' (Elizabeth Janeway, The New York Times) Reads like extravagantly mannered fiction, except that it is all fabulously true Miss Mitford is at once touching and wildly funny, and there is not one of her highly coloured characters that is not violently alive and uncomfortably kicking.' ( Tatler) Her book is full of the music of time.' ( Sunday Times) 'More than an extremely amusing autobiography she has evoked a whole generation.

Hons and rebels review