Admit it! – Sister Mitford and I
Manga artist: Ikemimi
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Publication date: September 16, 2025
Admit it! The Mitford Sisters and I is an interesting dueling portrait by cartoonist Mimi Pond. By juxtaposing the lives of many of the Mitford Sisters with her own, Pound’s new book captures what it feels like to have special interests, to be trapped by societal expectations of womanhood, and to hit it off in unexpected places. And while this story tries to be honest about all things Mitford family, it’s perhaps a little too soft on some of their (big) flaws.
Every girl has a heroine. Some people make Jo March or Anne Shirley their entire personality at the age of 9, and then live that way for the rest of their lives. For Mimi Pond, who lived in a boring, lonely house and wanted more, her special interest was the wonderful, hip but highly controversial Mitford Sisters (who included two fascists among their number). Admit it! “” is a complete record of the proud family’s life, chronicling their lives from childhood to death.
It is a shared lifetime in which many events occur. The eldest, Nancy, became an acclaimed writer. Pamela lived a happy life in the countryside, survived two divorces, and eventually moved in with a woman. Princess Diana left behind an heir to Guinness and made a deal with a fascist leader named Oswald Mosley. Knowing that Germany and Britain were on opposite sides of the war in World War II, Unity gave Hitler the confidence to shoot himself in the head. Jessica became a communist and rebellious reporter. And Deborah became a sophisticated person in modern society.
Pound carefully draws parallels between himself and the Mitford family. She does so by including things like her earnest parents and her terrible relationships in college, which gave way to 1970s self-discovery. She feels alone, and her isolated childhood overlaps with the literal loneliness of the Mitfords. Her art and writing are highly creative and very accurate to the tenets of biography, while also noting that even the Mitfords never approached hard facts when talking about their family life.
Pound also uses amazing visual metaphors to achieve this kind of art. Jessica imagines a man tricking her into returning home, leaving her first husband Esmond Romilly as a giant turkey in Spain, lured with the promise of food. Nancy is seen as a giant female reproductive organ as various miscarriages and hysterectomies occur. Lovely, lumpen, and skillfully rendered in watercolor, these illustrations are captivating. It’s surreal, yet endearing.
Pound’s love for her subject matter is so obvious that it’s no wonder that her attempts to match the fascism of Diana and Unity seem light and far too playful for such a heavy subject. She recognizes all their mistakes, but it is difficult to evoke a sympathetic picture of Diana alone in her cell, or sympathy for Unity, who disappears into the world she has created for herself.
Still, please admit it! It’s a great piece of work that deserves serious consideration. Rich and true, but messy and incomplete, admit it! A wonderful journey into the author’s brain.
Admit it! “Sister Mitford and I” now available
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