Wait For Me!
Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister
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4.1 • 35 Ratings
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
Deborah Devonshire is a natural writer with a knack for the telling phrase and for hitting the nail on the head. She tells the story of her upbringing, lovingly and wittily describing her parents (so memorably fictionalised by her sister Nancy); she talks candidly about her brother and sisters, and their politics (while not being at all political herself), finally setting the record straight.
Throughout the book she writes brilliantly about the country and her deep attachment to it and those who live and work in it. As Duchess of Devonshire, Debo played an active role in restoring and overseeing the day-to-day running of the family houses and gardens, and in developing commercial enterprises at Chatsworth. She tells poignantly of the deaths of three of her children, as well as her husband's battle with alcohol addiction.
Wait For Me is enthralling and a total joy, full of the author's sympathetic wit (which she is not afraid to use on herself).
Customer Reviews
Compulsive reading
I am surprised how much I enjoyed this book. I have read such a lot about the Mitford sisters that I thought I would not find much of interest in this book. But "Debo" is a wonderful character in her own right and has achieved a great deal - all of which she writes about with humour and modesty. An occasional waspish remark but mostly generous and loving about her sisters, her friends, the staff at Chatsworth and all the grand people she has known. But it doesn't come over as name dropping. Her descriptions of grand occasions and of the magnificent parties at Chatsworth are mind blowing. Very honest about her husband's alcoholism. Makes one realise that in spite of all the wealth her life was fraught with difficulties like everybody else. Lovely photos too.
Simply Wondair (to use a Mitford quote).
Deborah Mitford is certainly on par with her other literary sisters, Nancy and Diana. I would say that this book is better than Jessica Mitford's telling of their childhood and early life simply because it is more honest. Every page is filled with laughter and pathos.