Wigs on the Green Paperback – August 10, 2010

Nancy Mitford fans, including me, have been waiting a long time for this novel to be republished. Even used copies of WIGS ON THE GREEN have been hard to find, since after its release in 1935 it has only rarely been back in print. It became controversial because it was written at a time when Hitler was someone to laugh at, at least for Nancy, and it caused uproar in Nancy's family because Diana and Unity, her two passionately fascist-leaning sisters, did not like the way their beloved movement was teasingly ridiculed. Nancy never let it be reprinted in her lifetime.Nancy's determination to always find something ironic or funny in even the worst situations makes for wonderful reading and this book is no exception. Her humor manages to combine the social insights of Jane Austen with the laugh out loud absurdity of P. G. Wodehouse. In the aftermath of WWII, laughing at Hitler and his followers seemed about as inappropriate as basing a sitcom on Osama bin Laden, but part of the fascination of this book is its glimpse into the thoughts of a world before the catastrophes of the Holocaust.In plot and tone WIGS ON THE GREEN is more similar to Nancy's first two frothy, fast-paced novels, HIGHLAND FLING and CHRISTMAS PUDDING, than it is to her later more serious novels, The PURSUIT OF LOVE and LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE. Though the later novels are considered her masterpieces, to me they ramble and I enjoy her early, breathlessly funny books more. The political bent of WIGS ON THE GREEN gives it a greater heft than her other early novels, so fans of Nancy's later work may appreciate it more than her first, more purely fanciful books.Most of the action in WIGS ON A GREEN takes place in and around the small village of Chalford where Anne-Marie Lace, the Local Beauty, fights boredom by assuming the role of patroness and muse for the town's meager, mercenary artist colony. Lady Marjorie is hiding out, thinly disguised as a commoner, with her friend Poppy while she tries to decide what to do about the duke she just jilted. Work-weary Noel Foster and his freeloading friend Jasper Aspect, based on Nancy's difficult husband Peter Rodd, are both scheming to marry the village's wealthy, politically obsessed heiress. This fanatic heiress, Eugenia Malmain, was inspired by Nancy's sister Unity, who by all accounts was an amazing and paradoxical force of nature.When Nancy had Eugenia climb on an overturned washtub in Chalford's village green to exhort the locals to awake, and save the diminishing prestige of Britain by joining the Union Jackshirt party, it was before anyone knew about the tragedies to come. At the time Unity's obsession with Hitler and fascism just seemed like a great joke to Nancy, and she couldn't resist what she saw as good material for her book.The chance to get a little more insight into Unity Valkyrie Mitford will make WIGS ON THE GREEN irresistible to fans of the Mitford sisters. Unity was a beautiful, intense, larger than life girl, who wore a pet snake around her neck at debutant balls. She became a great admirer of Hitler and through determination and persistence she managed to meet him and become part of his inner circle of friends. In her published letters to her sisters she refers to him as her dear sweet Führer. She shot herself in the head when England and Germany went to war, and died of her wounds in 1948.As shocking as that all sounds, the people who knew Unity adored her. Jessica, the communist Mitford sister, spent most of her life refusing to speak to Diana, the Mitford sister married to British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley. But no one in the family, including Jessica, could ever bring themselves to cut Unity out of their life.The five star rating is mainly for those fascinated by the Mitford sisters, but I would still give WIGS ON THE GREEN at least four stars, even for people who have never heard of the Mitford family.

Unless you're familiar with the vagaries of the Mitford sisters in the 30s this satire of one of Nancy's sisters will mean little to the reader. It's full of the patter of the British Upper Classes of the time, but the humor is pallid and one can only assume that the suthor is merely bwarming up for those wonderfully wicked later gems, "Love in a Cold Climate," "The Pursuit of Love," and "The Blessing."

This is a most entertaining light novel, something in the tradition of Waugh's Vile Bodies (or the movie Bright Young Things based on it). Contemporary attitudes toward divorce, adultery, and family life are satirized, with many laugh-out-loud moments, and all the naughty behavior builds to a hilarious climax in a disastrous historical pageant (complete with wigs on the green). My favorite chapter was the one on Peersmont, an insane asylum for peers of the realm (built on the floor plan of the House of Lords)! Of course, what sets this apart from the other silly novels of the period is the character Eugenia (based on Unity Mitford) and her troop of Union Jackshirts (based on the British Union of Fascists). We are, in effect, transported back to the early 1930's, when such a movement could be and generally was regarded as a subject for humor. Alas, the Jackshirt leader (the "Captain," based on Oswald Mosley, Nancy Mitford's brother-in-law), gets off fairly easy, since much of the material satirizing him personally was apparently removed at Unity's pleading and for fear of a lawsuit.

Book was originally published in 1935. Re published in 2010. After reading The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict I was interested in reading the story that caused so much criticism.

Have read most all her books & enjoyed some immensely, not so much this one. Her great sense of humor seemed to be missing in this book . I would not recommend this to anyone who enjoyed " Love in a Cold Climate" .

The front cover and first two pages were damaged as if someone had accidentally burned it.

Uncomfortable satire, meant to show how silly and foolish some aspects of the pre-WWII social sets of the UK. This book was long unavailable due to the clear resemblance of the main characters to Nancy's sisters and other family members. Her cutting wit, and fast pace makes this a delightful hop back in time. Some of the attitudes of her characters, and therefore their expressed opinions a shockingly bigoted, and wrong...but Ms Mitford was capturing the times. And the times, even in social satire were ugly. Fans of PG Wodehouse (mispelled in my last review of Highland Fling also by Nancy Mitford) will recognize many prototypes here that also inhabit the world of Jeeves and Whooster.

l'Histoire des Soeurs Mitford m'a toujours fascinée.L'intrigue se situe pendant la periode d'avant-guerre, où la haute société anglaise n'échappe pas à la montée du fascisme.Intéressant

Great fun. Having read several books about the Mitfords it was interesting to see how Nancy took her family's traits and put them in her novel. Apparently Diana and Unity hated it and it caused a rift between them and Nancy for years. All I can say is Nazis have no sense of humour! If I was to spend an evening with one of the Mitfords it would be Nancy...we would have a laugh!

Wry, British humour in the style of Wodehouse. Amusing. Controversial for it's time and still rather unsettling with the portrayal of fascism.

Uno dei libri più riusciti di Nancy Mitford, della quale mi sono anche piaciuti Love in a Cold Climate, The Pursuit of Love ma anche e soprattutto Don't Tell Alfred...

Ein frühes Buch von Nancy Mitfort. Es gibt für mich bessere Bücher aber dieses hier ist lesenswert für Nancy Mitford Fans

Diana (Mitford) Mosley hated this book so I had to read it since everything that she hated is close to the truth. She lived a lie her entire life and could not handle any criticism against her beloved Nazis or Leader. But her sister could not accept what she saw going on in her family. I am glad that Nancy Mitford stood her ground and published this book against the family wishes. The book being a study of National Socialism as it appeared in her sisters Unity and Diana. As Deborah (Mitford) Cavendish wrote in 1960 about Nancy: "she's not inventive, merely a good reporter" (p. 340 in the Mitfords Letters between six sisters).To the upper classes that she describes, this book might have been hilarious. IF they were able to laugh at themselves OR at people in their acquaintance. But for other social classes this book would hardly have been seen as comical and it is not so in today's world. It's not a funny P. G. Wodehouse since it lacks the brilliant language of his that comes from education. But it is a social study all right.The story line is as follows: Young Noel Foster has inherited 3 314 pounds and with that in hand, he quits his job to find and marry an heiress. Unfortunately he contacts an old school mate named Jasper Aspect, for help in this quest, even though Jasper lives off his friends, lies, cheats, STEALS, is a womanizer and uses people to HIS own benefits only. Jasper invites himself to spend the legacy and to go to Chalford where he knows there is an heiress: Eugenia Malmains, a 17-year-old that has nothing in her head except National Socialism. The two men are persuaded by her to join the party, in order to court her. At the Inn where they are staying, two young women soon join them. Marjorie, who has run away from her wedding to a duke, and her friend Poppy, whose husband always chases debutantes every season.Jasper falls for Poppy and Noel soon fancies himself in love with the local beauty, Mrs. Lace. The entire book is about a planning a garden party and pageant, in Eugenia's honour and as her coming out party. But the whole thing turns out to a National Socialism event instead. At the end of the book, one woman gets married and another engaged but like her other books, this one doesn't take off, it doesn't really lead in to anything since the characters are so empty like all her characters always are, they are totally 2D and in this book, very unlikeable. Perhaps it could have become a play if National Socialism hadn't been so offensive as it is.