Books › Daughters and rebels
Daughters and rebels
First published 1960 · 356 pages
A lively, irreverent romp through an eccentric aristocratic childhood into the chaotic joy of bohemian rebellion.
What it feels like
Reading this memoir feels like escaping a stifling, eccentric manor house to run away with a traveling circus of bohemian intellectuals. The narrative moves at a brisk, rollicking pace, propelled by a wry and irreverent tone that pokes fun at upper-class British absurdities while remaining genuinely touching. The mood is a delightful mix of aristocratic boredom and chaotic, joyful rebellion, capturing the thrill of trading blue-blooded privilege for penniless adventures. The prose is lively and sharp, perfectly suited to detailing bizarre family dynamics, impulsive romances, and the sheer fun of navigating life with no money but plenty of spirit. It will thoroughly delight readers who crave witty, coming-of-age stories about defying expectations and embracing a wonderfully unconventional life.
- Mood
- eccentric
- bohemian
- rebellious
- rollicking
- Tone
- wry
- lively
- irreverent
- touching
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- aristocratic rebellion · eccentric family dynamics · bohemian poverty · sisterhood · coming-of-age
- The writing
- Lively, touching, and irreverently humorous, capturing the absurdity of upper-class life with a sharp, rollicking energy.
- The arc
- Moves from the stifling boredom of an eccentric aristocratic childhood to the liberating, chaotic joy of bohemian independence.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love witty, rebellious memoirs about eccentric aristocratic families and bohemian escapes.
Content notes
- fascism (historical context)
- war (historical context)
- shoplifting
About the book
Jessica Mitford has written a gay and touching account of her growing up from childhood through early marriage. She was the sixth child of a pair of splendid English eccentrics, Lord and Lady Redesdale, and sister to Nancy, now famous for her novels, Unity, who became notorious through her attachment to Hitler, Diana, who married Sir Oswald Mosley and joined him in that strange anachronism, British fascism, and Deborah, the present Duchess of Devonshire. From the first, her definitely "U" background was a source of infinite boredom to Jessica and her lively account of it explains not only her own rebellion, but much about her sisters'. It seemed quite natural to little Jessica, for example, that she should learn how to shoplift. Later it was just as natural for her to fall in love with a young man she had never met. His name was Esmond Romilly, he was a nephew of Winston Churchill, and he was fighting for the Loyalists in Spain. Jessica pulled strings and things happened. She met him when he came home on leave. When he went back he was not alone. Not even the threat of the English version of the Mann Act or the arrival of her sister on a warship could tear Jessica away, and finally she and Esmond were married.
After Spain they returned to London where they had an odd assortment of friends, a great deal of fun, and almost no money - a fairly permanent condition. The last third of the book is devoted to their adventures in America and it is a rollicking account of two "blueblooded babes in Hobohemia," a designation which infuriated the "babes" in question. We meet Esmond as a door-to-door stockting salesman (he took lessons), and as a bartender in Miami, as a guest badly in need of a shave and a dinner jacket but very well known to the butler.
Finally the long shadow of the war clouded the Florida sunshine and the Romillys started north, Esmond headed for Canada to enlist in His Majesty's forces. He left Jessica in Washington to have her baby and it is there that the book ends. It was there too that World War II put an end to her childhood, for Esmond was killed in action fighting for a world he had so thoroughly enjoyed.
Description from Open Library.
Books like Daughters and rebels
See why they match
Love in a cold climateNancy MitfordA wickedly funny, velvet-draped romp through the glittering monotony and sudden scandals of the English upper class.
The glitter and the goldConsuelo Vanderbilt BalsanA glittering, witty, and surprisingly poignant peek behind the velvet curtains of the Gilded Age and Edwardian aristocracy.
Georgiana, Duchess of DevonshireAmanda ForemanA glittering, tragic plunge into the excesses of eighteenth-century aristocracy, where political genius and personal self-destruction walk hand in hand.
The English AirDorothy Emily StevensonA gentle, mid-century romance that balances the cozy comforts of the English countryside with the encroaching shadows of war.
As I walked out one midsummer morningLaurie LeeA sun-drenched, poetic tramp across a vanished 1930s Europe, balancing the golden innocence of youth with the gathering storm clouds of war.
The woman who shot MussoliniFrances Stonor SaundersA gripping, elegant retrieval of a forgotten woman whose single act of defiance was swallowed by the shadows of history.