The Mitford affair A novel

Families torn apart by politics is a common theme in today's divisive times, but Trumpers versus liberals pales in comparison to what was happening with the six Mitford sisters in 1930s London. Unity and Jessica shared a room as children, with Unity's half painted black to show support for the fascists in Germany, and Jessica's festooned in red in support of the Communists in Spain. Then there was older sister Diana, who married Oswald Mosley, head of the British fascist party. There has been plenty of nonfiction and at least one documentary about the Mitfords, but Benedict turns their remarkable story into made-for-Masterpiece historical fiction. It's something of a guilty pleasure (Downton Abbey with Nazi sympathizers), but Benedict wisely leaves it to another sister, novelist Nancy, to shoulder the sympathetic-character burden, investigating Unity's psychosexual obsession with Hitler and Diana's seditious plan to solicit Nazi funds for Mosley's fascist radio station. Should Nancy rat out her sisters to her cousin, Winston Churchill? There's a little too much soap opera here, but just try to stop reading.

Benedict (Her Hidden Genius) delves into the Mitford family's fatal attraction to fascism and Hitler in her captivating latest. Set in 1930s England before WWII, Diana, the middle child of six sisters and a brother, is a famous beauty who is married to Bryan Guinness, heir to the brewing fortune. Diana, 22, leaves Bryan for "fascist gadabout" Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists. Diane later teaches her children the Hitler salute, and her connections to elite Nazis keep Mosley's BUF afloat until the political tide turns against them when WWII looms. Younger sister Unity, 18, hoping to help Great Britain prevent war with Germany, is a fierce Nazi sympathizer and antisemite, and her obsession with Hitler leads her to join his inner circle--a decision followed by dire consequences. When the oldest Mitford sister, 29-year-old novelist Nancy, grasps the precise nature of her sisters' visits to Germany, she sleuths out Diana's and Mosley's treasonous scheme to start up a radio station for spreading Nazi propaganda, and outs them to her cousin Winston Churchill. This engaging tale of genteel spies shifts easily between the sisters' perspectives and provides timely insight on British fascists and supporters of appeasement. Benedict's silky-smooth page-turner is sure to please her fans. Agent: Laura Dail, Laura Dail Literary Agency. (Jan.)

In the New York Times best-selling Benedict's The Mitford Affair, Nancy Mitford must choose between family and country when she realizes to her shock that two of her sisters support the Nazis' rise to power. Billed as an historical thriller (with the accent on historical), the Edgar Award--winning Blauner's Picture in the Sand tells the story of Egyptian American businessman Ali Hassan, who shares his secret activist past with a grandson now in Syria as a holy warrior, hoping to dissuade him from extremist actions (75,000-copy first printing). By the author of the internationally best-selling The German Girl, Correa's The Night Travelers moves from Ally Keller's struggles to get biracial daughter Lilith out of 1930s Berlin to Lilith's experiences during the Cuban revolution to Nadine's work in late 1980s Berlin to honor the remains of victims of the Nazis even as daughter Luna encourages her to investigate her own past. American Book Award--winning, Orange Prize short-listed Divakaruni's Independence tracks the fate of three Indian sisters--ambitious Priya, gorgeous Deepa, and devout Jamina--who are torn apart as the 1947 Partition looms (50,000-copy first printing). Saab's Daughters of Victory, successor to her well-received debut, The Last Checkmate, follows Svetlana Petrova from revolutionary idealism in 1917 Russia to disillusionment with Bolshevism to concern for a granddaughter aching to join the resistance as Germans invade the Soviet Union in 1941 (100,000-copy paperback and 30,000-copy hardcover first printing). A debut from Black Canadian Thomas, In the Upper Country opens in 1800s Dunmore, Canada, terminus of the Underground Railroad, where imbued Black journalist Lensinda Martin urges a new arrival who's just killed a slave hunter to give testimony before her arrest; instead, she proposes that they trade stories, with the resulting narrative a braided-together history of Black and Indigenous peoples in North America.