The true story of the infamous Milford sisters, born into country-house privilege in the early years of the 20th century, who became prominent as "bright young things" in the high society of interwar London. Then, as the shadows crept over 1930s Europe, the stark?and very public?differences in their outlooks came to symbolize the political polarities of a dangerous decade.
The Six is riveting. It captures all the wayward magnetism and levity that have enchanted countless writers without neglecting the tragic darkness of many of the sisters’ life choices and the savage sociopolitical currents that fueled them ... The most fascinating of the portraits in The Six is of Diana, the peerless beauty of the family...Thompson wonderfully evokes her coup de foudre with [British Union of Facists leaser] Oswald Mosley.
Lively, gossipy, and at times quite moving, Thompson’s is fine addition ... The Six is at its strongest when mapping the complicated family dynamics; where Thompson occasionally falters is in making sense of some in the family’s repugnant politics.
...in a narrative that contains some stylish prose, Thompson dwells on their quirky charms ... includes thousands of facts about the Mitford family, but Thompson offers few clear opinions of her subjects. She ought to have done so. Never mind their popularity, most of the Mitfords were unlikable. Their politics were appalling ... The book offers so much material — too much, perhaps, and much of it redundant. The Six is fine for readers new to the Mitfords, but the definitive biography remains The Sisters.
