Jessica Mitford ultimately became close friends of Adolf Hitler. Diana even married the British Union of Fascists' Leader, Sir Oswald Mosley. Upon the outbreak of war between Great Britain and Nazi Germany, Unity tried to commit suicide in Munich and Diana and her husband were interned without trial for the duration of the war. Jessica later described her father as "one of nature's fascists", Jessica (always known as Decca) renounced her privileged background at an early age and became an adherent of Stalinism. She was known as the "red sheep" of the family. At the age of 19, Mitford met her second
The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters scalding wit and best selling novelist; Pamela, who craved a quiet country life; Diana, the fascist jailed during the Second World War; Unity, whose obsession with Hitler led to her demise, Jessica, the runaway communist; and Deborah, the socialite who became Duchess of Devonshire. The book was well received both critically and commercially. In particular previously held perceptions were challenged. India Knight wrote in the "Sunday Times"; "we didn’t really know them especially well, it turns out. Jessica was not that good; Diana briefly sinister but also clever, kind, fatally loyal to her Blackshirt husband, Oswald Mosley, and so on."