Nancy Mitford a satire on Mosley's fascist "Blackshirt" movement. Mitford herself had briefly flirted with this cause, although her enthusiasm was short-lived and she soon became a vociferous opponent of fascism. When the novel was published in 1935 it made little critical impact, while seriously offending members of her own family, particularly her sisters Diana and Unity, both of whom were supporters of Mosley's movement and devotees of the German dictator Adolf Hitler. Diana eventually forgave her, but the rift with Unity, who was outraged by her depiction in the book as the ridiculous "Eugenia Malmains", was never fully healed. By 1936
Nancy Mitford in favour of the new arrival was a further source of outrage to Nancy, and throughout their childhood and into young adulthood she continued to vent her displeasure on her sister. In January 1909 a brother, Tom was born, and in June 1910 another sister, Diana, followed. That summer, to relieve the pressure on what was becoming an overcrowded nursery, Nancy attended the nearby Francis Holland School. The few months she spent there represented almost the whole of her formal schooling; in the autumn the family moved to a larger house in Victoria Road, Kensington, after which Nancy was educated