Hons and Rebels cover art

Hons and Rebels

The Mitford Family Memoir

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

$8.99/mo after trial ends. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

Hons and Rebels

By: Jessica Mitford
Narrated by: Jenny Agutter
Try for $0.00

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $24.07

Buy Now for $24.07

Summary

 'This book is just about my favourite book of all time ... I'm not entirely convinced I could like somebody who didn't like this book ... it's funny and moving and gives you an insight into this extraordinary moment as the war is about to begin ... it's so vivid, and what's more, it's incredibly current' Robert Rinder, BBC Radio 4

'Wonderfully funny and very poignant' Philip Toynbee

'More than an extremely amusing autobiography ... she has evoked a whole generation. Her book is full of the music of time' SUNDAY TIMES

'Whenever I read the words "Peer's Daughter" in a headline,' Lady Redesdale once sadly remarked, 'I know it's going to be something about one of you children.' The Mitford family is one of the century's most enigmatic, made notorious by Nancy's novels, Diana's marriage to Sir Oswald Mosley, Unity's infatuation with Hitler, Debo's marriage to a duke and Jessica's passionate commitment to communism. Hons and Rebels is an enchanting and deeply absorbing memoir of an isolated and eccentric upbringing which conceals beneath its witty, light-hearted surface much wisdom and depth of feeling.©1960 Jessica Mitford Art & Literature Authors Politicians Politics & Activism Witty Feel-Good
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic Reviews

More than an extremely amusing autobiography ... she has evoked a whole generation. Her book is full of the music of time
[An] uproarious yet deadly portrait of family life and family politics ... It evokes the atmosphere of the 1930s with more feeling than almost any other book of the period (Christopher Hitchens)
Wonderfully funny and very poignant (Philip Toynbee)
Stunning. Reads like an 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 highly coloured characters that is not violently alive and uncomfortably kicking (Siriol Hugh-Jones)
This book is just about my favourite book of all time ... I'm not entirely convinced I could like somebody who didn't like this book ... it's funny and moving and gives you an insight into this extraordinary moment as the war is about to begin ... it's so vivid, and what's more, it's incredibly current (Robert Rinder)
Her awareness of where she's from and what she had is astonishing ... to maintain that kind of awareness is astonishing, and she is very funny, but she also writes very well ... she mixes the hugely political, the very sweeping things, with intensely personal moments (Stella Duffy)
What is really quite amazing about this book, which I have read many, many times, and love ... [is] she's not La Pasionaria, she's not some really left-wing heroine, but she is amazing to have got from where she started to where she ended up (Harriett Gilbert)
All stars
Most relevant
Having been a huge fan of Nancy Mitford for years, I finally got around to listening to the true story behind Mitford’s character Jassy, who is forever saving up to run away in Mitford’s Love in a Cold Climate. The true story of Jessica turns out to be far, far more interesting than Nancy’s fictional Jassy. Jessica “Decca” Mitford is an extraordinary person with a fabulous wit. A heroic escapee of the stifled upper class life she was born into, her dazzling exploits and the undercurrents of profound tragedy in her life all shine in this gem of an autobiography.

Too wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.