Wait for Me! Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister, By Deborah Devonshire

Encounters with Hitler and other strange fish

The youngest of seven (six girls and a boy), Deborah "Debo" Devonshire, née Mitford, was brought up in a family so bizarre that her recollections in this memoir can only exist on a par with each other: only someone with her upbringing could mention her sister Unity's first meeting with Hitler and her own arrival at a boarding-school that "smelt strongly of lino, girls and fish" on virtually the same page.

Devonshire's early life had its fair share of difficulty: Unity's attempted suicide, Diana's involvement with Oswald Mosley, her parents' separation, her brother's death during the War, the loss of three of her own children. Yet there is little room for self-reflection: it is left to others to make assumptions about this fascinating life.