A documentary novel about the Mitford sisters, whose name was a household name in England in the middle of the last century. The six sisters came to personify the most diverse aspects of the 20th century. Diana is the “face of English Nazism,” the wife of the odious leader of the British fascists. Jessica is the “face of communism”, fought in Spain, exposed politicians. Nancy led the boom in "women's writing." Unity idolized Hitler and after the start of the war she tried to take her own life. Deborah, the epitome of British aristocracy, is obsessed with Elvis Presley. And finally, Pamela is the bucolic country shepherdess who has been sung by poets. The Mitford girls were born with silver spoons in their mouths. They seemed straight out of a Jane Austen novel: a rich and handsome lord father, a lady mother obsessed with marrying off her daughters, and extravagant young sisters. The book is incredibly reminiscent of the famous Downton Abbey, only it contains only facts. Telling the stories of six girls, Laura Thompson shows how the seeds of disaster sprouted as young aristocratic debutantes danced at their first ball. The sisters’ portraits form a single portrait of an era—turbulent, with incredible twists and turns. Laura Thompson's book is a critical look at the history of twentieth-century Britain, without gloss and gilding. This is a portrait of a country that is lost in ideological labyrinths, just as the Mitford girls were lost.