Do admit!

   

 

     A hectic afternoon and evening yesterday dashing hither and yon. I'm far from being a social butterfly but I had several places to be as well as things to do at home in between so it was all a bit of a scurry. The highlight of the day - far and away - was to see the wonderful Deborah Devonshire, dowager duchess, youngest Mitford, "Debo" herself, in conversation with Magnus Linklater and Charlotte Mosley on the subject of Charlotte's book The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters. This was a huge treat for me (and Simon, you'd have loved it, too) as she was everything I'd expected and more. It is to my great regret that though I stood in the signing queue after the event for quite some time I had to leave before I reached its head so I didn't get to meet her, and I mind that, I really do!

     Accused by her sister Nancy of being illiterate, she was nonetheless suspected by family and friends of being a secret reader, and while others pretend to have read books they haven't so much as opened, Debo pretends not to have read a great deal she actually has. But joking apart, she's a consummate businesswoman (naming Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Ginger and Pickles as the best book on retailing ever written) and a woman of immense natural funniness and straightforward charm. 

     I'm in danger of boring my family by constantly trying to read aloud to them excerpts from the letters while being unable to speak for laughing. The editor's job must have been extraordinarily difficult as the book's 800 pages reproduce only a tiny percentage of the 12,000 letters (yes, that figure is correct) the sisters sent one another, but they wrote so well and with such wit, warmth and candour that compiling it must have been a hugely enjoyable task.

     To whom does Debo write now, I wonder, as her sisters are all gone, and what would her parents, the famous Muv and Farve, make of the intense interest in - and even industry surrounding - their daughters' lives?

   

Comments

[adele geras]

I have that very volume of letters by my bed, awaiting the time when I can concentrate on them...when I've finished the work I'm currently nearly at the end of. Can't wait...

[Nicola]

Beautiful photographs, Karen. I read this last September and I couldn't put it down. I've still got Decca by my bed though. Haven't got around to that one yet ...

[Simon T]

Ah! I am unspeakably jealous! It's a good job I didn't know it was happening, otherwise I'd probably have moved Heaven and Earth to attend, with no good result for my wallet. Oh, what an event to attend. I shall have to be content with the letter Charlotte Mosley sent when I wrote to say how much I loved the book. Still far and away my favourite read of the year - I still feel bereft, not having new letters to read. Maybe they'll make another dozen volumes...

[Kaitlyn]

Oooo, I bought the book at the start of the year and am still trying to work my way through it. I've just finished Nancy Mitford's 'Love in a Cold Climate' and 'Pigeon Pie' though, very funny stuff. You can definitely see that the sisters had a sense of humour!

[Tara]

How thrilling, and yet too bad about the signing.
Those muffins below look fantastic. Someday I'll have to buy a scale and learn to bake the UK way.

[Lisa]

I've heard so much about this book -- I really must break down and get a copy. I love the glimpse one gets into the everyday lives of people by reading their letters. It's my favorite sort of social history. I think one can learn much more about a period in history from a collection of letters than would ever be possible from a history book.

[Vanessa]

I'm so jealous. A ticket was waiting for me at the Yurt but I couldn't get there in time... Although I'm glad it was as interesting as you hoped, I sort of wish people had told me that I hadn't missed much!