For Women’s History Month (as we celebrate it in October in Canada), I am highlighting books that have been written by women. I find that particularly in biography and history, men are published at a much higher rate. (And if you are one of those people who says, “I don’t look at who the author is, I just read for the book”, you are supporting the status quo.) This is one of the most unique biographies that I have come across in years, and it was written and illustrated by a wildly talented woman and is about women. Let’s get into Do Admit by Mimi Pond!
Thank you to Drawn and Quarterly and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me, Mimi Pond
Born with pedigrees but without the pocketbooks to match, The Mitfords were certainly no strangers to lies, intrigue, or scandal. Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah. All six sisters were weaned on their family’s well-documented upper class eccentricities: a ne’er do well would-be entrepreneur father; a stern, stiff-upper-lipped mother; a revolving door of governesses of varying propriety, all against the backdrop of a crumbling estate falling into disrepair.
The sisters grew from cloistered turn-of-the-century country girls into debutantes who would marry into political influence—for better or worse. Is it any wonder that a young, working class Mimi in Southern California becomes enamored with The Mitfords’ downright fanciful rich-and-famous lifestyle? This charming, inventively cartooned, and lovingly researched biography captures the dramatic, over-the-top antics of high society’s strongest personalities as they rubbed elbows with some of history’s most infamous fascists and communists.
Pond’s genius for classic cartooning in the vein of the Vanity Fair caricature and the satirical illustrations of Charles Addams brings the aesthetic decadence of the 1920s and ‘30s to life with effortless aplomb, warts and all.
Why You Should Read This…
The Mitford sisters make up the majority of one of the most fascinating families in modern British history. We’ve got one of the twentieth century’s best novelists, a communist, two fascists, a duchess, and a duck specialist- I don’t know that you’ve got a more eclectic mix. So it seems more than appropriate to explore their lives via graphic biography. Well over 400 pages, it is an investment but it also just flies by!
Mimi Pond is an illustrator and cartoonist, and I think that she was the perfect person to write it. Not only is the physical element of the book stunning- I ended up pausing to simply take it all in several times- Pond intersperses pivotal moments of her own life and how it intersected with the sisters. It gives an ever so-slightly personal touch to the book and seems very appropriate for the subjects.
Do Admit does take a bit of time to read. The page layouts are creative and you physically need to move your eyes to take it all in. I loved that element of it, it allowed me to fully immerse myself in the book. (In the age of smart phones and continual interruptions, it is lovely to get lost in a book for a few hours.)
If you are interested in a creative biography on these intriguing sisters, this is a must read.
Is Do Admit by Mimi Pond on your to-read list?
Cheers,
The Historian
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