Country United Kingdom Publisher Sidgwick & Jackson Pages 224 Page count 224 | Language English Publication date 1985 Originally published 1985 Genre Memoir | |
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Diana Mitford books A Life of Contrasts, The Duchess of Windsor, The Pursuit of Laughter, The Mitfords: Letters B, The Collected Diana Mo | ||
Loved Ones is a 1985 collection of pen portraits by Diana Mitford. It was published by Sidgwick & Jackson. In 2008, three of the portraits were republished in the collection, The Pursuit of Laughter.
Contents
Synopsis
The book includes pen portraits of leading figures that featured prominently in Mitford's life. These include Lytton Strachey and Dora Carrington, former neighbours and friends of hers. Violet Hammersley, an author, close friend of her mother's and prominent figure in childhood. The writer, Evelyn Waugh a close personal friend. Professor Derek Jackson, a leading physicist and her former brother-in-law. Lord Berners, a close personal friend she stayed with often at Faringdon House. Prince and Princess Clary, close friends of hers after the Second World War. The final portrait is of her second husband, Sir. Oswald Mosley.
The book also features several photographs of the selected subjects.
Reception
The collection was favourably reviewed by The Glasgow Herald, describing Mosley as ″consistently witty in a generous way that indulges neither in sarcasm not bitterness and her book contains gems of ever-so-English understatement and Mitfordese snobbery.″
Cover illustration
This illustration features a detail from Henry Lamb's portrait of Mitford, painted in 1932 when she was still married to Bryan Guinness.