57 pages • 1 hour read
The Mitford Affair
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Chapters 55-70Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 55 Summary: “Nancy – September 3, 1939 – Inch Kenneth, Scotland”
Muv and Farve move to a small house in Scotland because they can no longer afford to keep up the country houses they inherited from their parents in England. Nancy visits her parents and is glued to the radio, hearing news of the war. Germany is invading Poland. Nancy and her parents know that Britain must now declare war on Germany, as they are Poland’s ally. Nancy has been working on a new novel, Pigeon Pie, about Britain going to war to fight fascism. Now, reality is playing out just as she’s been predicting in her book.
Farve stops supporting the Nazi Party, while Muv still doesn’t believe that anything bad will happen to Britain because Hitler appreciates British culture. Muv tries to call Unity in Germany but can’t reach her. Muv declares that Britain mustn’t win the war against Germany because the world will turn against Diana and Unity. Increasingly fed up with her family’s treachery and ignorance, Nancy calls Winston Churchill.
Chapter 56 Summary: “Diana – September 3, 1939 – Staffordshire, England”
Listening to the news, Diana has no doubts that Germany will win the war. In the meantime, she and Mosley need to stay quiet while accomplishing the goals of their radio station business. Diana persuades Mosley not to release an inflammatory statement on BUF’s behalf because it is probable that they are being surveilled by the British security service. Even though this means that it’s dangerous for Diana to call Germany, she does because she needs to check on Unity.
Chapter 57 Summary: "Unity - September 3, 1939 - Munich, Germany"
Unity dresses in her finest Nazi outfit and takes her pistol to the Englischergarten (“English Garden”). She attempts suicide by shooting herself in the head.
Chapter 58 Summary: “Nancy – September 4, 1939 – London, England”
Nancy is unable to speak with Churchill on the phone, nor can her cousin, their mutual relative, help her secure an appointment with him. Nancy leaves Scotland after her argument with her mother. Upon her arrival in London, a man approaches her informing her that Winston Churchill has been named Lord Admiral of the Navy and can’t meet with Nancy due to war preparations. This man has been sent to Nancy to retrieve the information she wants to pass on to Churchill. Nancy gives the man what she’s noted about Unity and Diana. Nancy goes to Diana’s London house, knowing that Diana and her family are in the countryside. Nancy searches through Diana’s study and finds evidence of Diana’s plans for the German radio station.
Chapter 59 Summary: “Diana – September 4, 1939 – Staffordshire, England”
The war is escalating. Germany has attacked a British civilian cruise ship of 1,000 passengers. Mosley and Diana refuse to believe that Hitler would make such a misstep and believe that the British government sank their own ship to stoke fury against Germany. When Mosley gives this opinion as part of the BUF statement to a major newspaper, The Times, Diana is shocked because this in public amounts to treason. Diana collapses, “doubting herself for the very first time in her life. Has she begun to lose control?” (321).
Chapter 60 Summary: “Nancy – October 4, 1939 – London, England”
Nancy joins the neighborhood Air Raid Precaution group, helping to educate her neighbors about how to prepare for an enemy air raid. She is also making great strides with Pigeon Pie. Winston Churchill pays Nancy a visit, despite his important role in the war effort. Nancy and her family have not heard from Unity in a long time. Churchill has also been looking for her. Contrary to the rumors about her imprisonment in a concentration camp, Churchill believes that Unity has been hospitalized. He thanks Nancy for passing on information about her sisters and asks her to continue spying on Diana. MI5 has been investigating Mosley and Diana on charges of treason. Churchill declares that Nancy is now officially part of the Special Operations Executive (i.e., an official spy).
Chapter 61 Summary: “Diana – October 4, 1939 – London, England”
Diana returns to her home in London, where she notices that the drawers in her study have been tampered with. The household staff tell her that the only people who have been in while she was gone are her parents. Diana wonders if British security agents have been looking through her things. Mosley continues to prepare notes for BUF rallies; many people are attending his speeches.
Chapter 62 Summary: “Nancy – October 28, 1939 – London, England”
The Mitford family receives news that Unity is recovering from a suicide attempt. Diana admits that she long suspected that Unity might hurt herself and that that’s why they hadn’t heard from her. Nancy is livid that Diana hid her concerns. Nancy speaks with Jean, Diana’s children’s nanny, who admits that Diana has been telling the children to practice their Nazi salutes because the war will be over soon.
Chapter 63 Summary: “Diana – October 28, 1939 – London, England”
Diana tries to keep up a calm exterior while, internally, she worries that she can’t protect her children and husband from being seen as enemies to Britain. Mosley and Diana are visited by a solicitor named Jonathan Sims who administers the money Mosley has been receiving from his late wife’s family, for maintaining his children from that marriage. Jonathan informs them that the money will be stopped because neither of their homes is “approved” for Mosley’s late wife’s children. Diana suspects that Jonathan, with the help of British surveillance, has audited their finances. Diana takes all her papers about the German radio station and burns them in her fireplace.
Chapter 64 Summary: “Nancy – January 3, 1940 – Wycombe, England”
Hitler has arranged for Unity to be moved to a hospital in Switzerland, a neutral country. Farve is concerned that if Unity returns to England, she’ll be arrested. He speaks to his friend Oliver Stanley, Secretary of State for War, who assures the family that Unity can return to England and avoid arrest if she is injured and in recovery. Muv and Nancy’s sister Debo travel to Switzerland to bring Unity back to England. Nancy meets them to help navigate the assaults from the press.
Nancy finds Unity unrecognizable, and Debo is forlorn over Unity’s depression. Unity had again tried to die by suicide in the hospital by swallowing her swastika badge. Nancy blames Diana for Unity’s crisis and resolves to report her German radio station plans to Churchill, even if it is a betrayal of her own family.
Chapter 65 Summary: “Diana – January 3, 1940 – Staffordshire, England”
Diana and Mosley must move into smaller accommodation approved by his wife’s family trust. Diana can’t give up on her plans, so, riskily, she writes to Peter Eckersley, a British fascist sympathizer and radio engineer. She uses vague words to ask if the plans for the German radio station are still possible. Diana gives the letter to her most trusted servant to send privately so that it can’t be traced back to her.
Chapter 66 Summary: “Nancy – February 2, 1940 – London, England”
Chapter 67 Summary: “Diana – March 2, 1940 – London, England”
Mosley is inspired by Vidkun Quisling, a conservative politician in Norway, who is working with Hitler to facilitate a Nazi invasion of Norway. When Mosley speaks of his admiration and similar plans for Britain in a meeting, Diana is shocked that Mosley continues to say treasonous things in public. There has been news of the “fifth column” (Nazi sympathizers and colluders in Britain) being infiltrated, and Diana worries it’s only a matter of time before something happens to her and Mosley. Diana hasn’t heard back from Peter Eckersley and worries that the letter has been intercepted.
Chapter 68 Summary: “Nancy – May 23, 1940 – London, England”
As the violence of the war increases, life in England changes quickly. Chamberlain loses political support and resigns as Prime Minister, replaced by Winston Churchill. Nancy overhears a phone call between Muv and Diana: Mosley has been arrested and imprisoned. No lawyer will take their case, and a new wartime law means that Mosley is not entitled to a state defense lawyer. Diana has recently given birth to another son and is desperate for help.
Chapter 69 Summary: “Diana - June 29, 1940 – Denham, England”
Diana packs some books and clothes to take to Mosley in prison. A group of officers arrive and arrest Diana. They take her away and won’t allow her to bring even her newest baby. Diana leaves her children, hoping she won’t be in prison for long.
Chapter 70 Summary: “Nancy – April 20, 1941 – London, England”
Nancy visits Diana in prison. Diana insists she did not act against Britain and that it is not illegal to believe in fascism or to have a friendship with Hitler. Diana is distraught about being separated from her children. Her one solace is that Mosley is being moved to her prison, where they will be permitted to live together. Nancy is wracked with guilt. She agonizes over whether her suspicions and judgments of Unity and Diana were founded in fact or were a fiction she concocted from her own jealousies or frustrations.
Chapters 55-70 Analysis
In the final chapters of The Mitford Affair, the impending war finally breaks out in the Western world, bringing the crisis to a climax. As with the rest of the novel, the socio-political dynamics of the context is rehearsed within the Mitford family. This last section of the novel also presents the characters’ moral denouement, as they face the consequences of their decisions.
The official declaration of war makes it impossible for Diana to contact Germany. Diana becomes increasingly aware and worried that she and Mosley are targets for anti-Nazi sentiment in England, and that she and Mosley will be investigated and arrested for their friendship with Hitler. Diana’s fixation on the plan highlights her thirst for power and her utter devotion to her life with Mosley above all else. This plays into the theme of The Ability of Power to Corrupt. Even with her past scandals in Britain, Diana has lived a very privileged life and doesn’t fully acknowledge the danger she brings to herself and her family. Though she becomes more cautious about contacting people in Germany, and though she suffers from panic about Mosley’s public declarations of treason, she stays resilient in her belief that she and Mosley will not face public prosecution. It takes a long time for Diana and Mosley to realize that their privilege won’t save them completely. What’s more, Diana evades dealing with the situation regarding Unity because she wants to appear distanced from Unity. Thus, Diana uses Unity when Unity is well so Diana can get closer to Hitler, but avoids Unity when Unity becomes a liability. Unity has been a pawn in Diana’s game. Diana is held accountable for her plots against Britain. She is arrested and incarcerated, though even in imprisonment, her family’s connections to powerful people like Winston Churchill give her certain privileges. Her refusal to recant or apologize in prison to Nancy supports the novel’s suggestion that her incarceration is just, even though it brings unhappiness to others.
Though Unity survives her attempted death by suicide, the Mitford family loses Unity in other ways. Unity is described as a shell of the woman she once was. She is desperate not to live because to live without Hitler is not a life that Unity can imagine. This is, the novel suggests, because Unity’s entire adult identity has been fixated on her relationship with Hitler. Unity long hoped for an alliance between Britain and Germany and she didn’t act directly against British interests the way that Diana did. Unity didn’t intend to betray her country. The novel explores Unity’s relative ability to critically self-reflect when showing that she believes it is her fault that Germany and Britain go to war. She is wrong about this, but her self-blame makes her a relatively sympathetic character at this point, as does the tragedy of her suicide attempt which is in some ways heroic. As a result of her poor decision-making, Unity is permanently injured, but her privilege as a Mitford saves her from arrest and affords her a comfortable convalescence. Despite these considerations, the novel’s ending portrays Unity as more victim than perpetrator, albeit a victim of her own making in many ways. Her ruin is a personification of The Ability of Power to Corrupt.
Nancy summons all her strength and is a pillar of resilience during the war. She volunteers with Air Raid Protection in her neighborhood. This highlights the theme of The Social Expectations of Women in the 20th Century, as Nancy is shown embracing the new active roles that opened up for women during wartime, including as part of formal community efforts to protect against German bombing raids. Nancy’s work educating her neighbors about protection against air raids is dangerous and risky but was an essential part of the war effort. She will also mix with ordinary Londoners outside her social circle. While all three central characters in this novel strive to feel useful, Nancy truly is a testament to the popular narrative of British strength and morale in time of war, often known as “Blitz spirit.” Nancy also becomes an unofficial Special Operations agent because she spies on her sister and passes on valuable and incriminating evidence against her sister. Although this directly leads to Diana’s arrest, a guilt Nancy must live with, it does save the British people from further infiltration of German influence. Nancy becomes cast as a war hero by the novel, but she is not exempt from the consequences of her actions, shown by the novel’s ambiguous and thoughtful ending. Nancy has done what she thought to be right, but she does not escape moments of self-doubt. The novel suggests that this is less a punishment and more a corollary of her ability to make complex and considered judgments, make decisions even when there is no perfect outcome, and take responsibility for those decisions. This ending is essential to the novel’s treatment of moral dilemmas, especially the theme of The Intersection Between the Political and the Personal.
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