Hons and Rebels

Jessica Mitford was the fifth of the six Mitford daughters and always the rebel among her sisters - Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity and Debo. At the age of 19 she eloped to the Spanish Civil War with her cousin, Esmond Romilly, and they moved to the USA in 1939. Romilly died in action in 1941 and Jessica later married Bob Treuhaft, a lawyer, with whom she lived in California. A one-time member of the American Communist Party, Jessica was a frequent target for the House Committee of Un-American Activities and was a passionate supporter of civil rights.

"More than an extremely amusing autobiography…she has evoked a whole generation. Her book is full of the music of time."
— Sunday Times

"Stunning. 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

"…the story of Jessica Mitford’s struggles makes tumultous and rewarding reading, and I recommend it heartily."
— Elizabeth Janeway, The New York Times

"[Mitford] has a most unusual talent for recapturing the past….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. It is a fascinating book."
— New York Herald Tribune

"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. 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

"Jessica Mitford (the fifth of the Mitford daughters) has brought a whole generation back to life in her autobiography….She tells the whole story of her rebellion…with engaging frankness and a spirited, often humorous, enthusiasm." — Richard McLaughlin, Springfield Republican

"Jessica tells her tale with girlish gush, brilliantly preserved a generation after the events…"
— Time