Muv

‘Rachel Trethewey has done the seemingly impossible in a book about the Mitfords: she has found something original to say, thanks to her excellent scholarship, and has written Muv’s story exceptionally well. Those who think they know all there is to know about the family will find her work a revelation.’ -- Simon Heffer, author of <i>Sing As We Go: Britain Between the Wars</i> ‘For the first time, the matriarch of the Mitfords emerges as an exciting historical figure in her own right, who was as brilliant and maddening as her six daughters. A treat for Mitford aficionados, this book offers a wealth of new information, re-framing and refreshing the story of the Mitfords as never before. Rachel Trethewey has set a new standard in the Mitford world – a truly dazzling book.’ -- Lyndsy Spence, author of <i>The Mitford Girls’ Guide to Life</i> and <i>Mrs Guinness</i> ‘A gripping life of a troubled, troubling, and unjustly neglected woman.’ -- Professor Richard Toye, Professor of History at Exeter University ‘Rachel Trethewey’s Mothers of the Mind is an engrossing and magnificently rewarding study of the relationships between three literary women – Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie and Sylvia Plath – and their mothers. In Muv, Trethewey looks with equally clear eyes at the tremendous influence exerted on the celebrated Mitford sisters by their strong-willed and alarmingly fervent mother, Sydney Redesdale. Fascinating stuff from one of our most innovative biographers.’ -- Miranda Seymour, novelist, biographer and critic ‘intriguing and informative.’ -- Nicky Haslam * <i>The Oldie</i> * ‘[a] clear-eyed portrait of the woman whose lot it was to be the mother of the rebellious Mitford daughters’ -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * <i>DAILY MAIL</i> * ‘A well-written and fair-minded account of the life of Sydney, Lady Redesdale, which may help to explain the divergent opinions of her six daughters, the remarkable Mitford sisters. I enjoyed reading it.’ -- Mary S. Lovell, bestselling author of <i>The Mitford Girls</i>