Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill
“Engrossing…the first formal biography of a woman who has heretofore been relegated to the sidelines.”–The New York Times
From the author of the New York Times bestseller A Woman of No Importance, a long overdue tribute to the extraordinary woman who was Winston Churchill’s closest confidante, fiercest critic and shrewdest advisor that captures the intimate dynamic of one of history’s most fateful marriages.
Late in life, Winston Churchill claimed that victory in the Second World War would have been “impossible” without the woman who stood by his side for fifty-seven turbulent years. Why, then, do we know so little about her? In this landmark biography, a finalist for the Plutarch prize, Sonia Purnell finally gives Clementine Churchill her due.
Born into impecunious aristocracy, the young Clementine Hozier was the target of cruel snobbery. Many wondered why Winston married her, when the prime minister’s daughter was desperate for his attention. Yet their marriage proved to be an exceptional partnership. "You know,"Winston confided to FDR, "I tell Clemmie everything."
Through the ups and downs of his tumultuous career, in the tense days when he stood against Chamberlain and the many months when he helped inspire his fellow countrymen and women to keep strong and carry on, Clementine made her husband’s career her mission, at the expense of her family, her health and, fatefully, of her children. Any real consideration of Winston Churchill is incomplete without an understanding of their relationship. Clementine is both the first real biography of this remarkable woman and a fascinating look inside their private world.
"Sonia Purnell has at long last given Clementine Churchill the biography she deserves. Sensitive yet clear-eyed, Clementine tells the fascinating story of a complex woman struggling to maintain her own identity while serving as the conscience and principal adviser to one of the most important figures in history. I was enthralled all the way through." –Lynne Olson, bestselling author of Citizens of London
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
It has become fashionable to degrade Winston Churchill as simply an "imperialist," which he was unapologetically, and for being against women's suffrage, which he also was, but later changed his mind, largely due to his wife's influence. But it is folly to judge this larger-than-life, monumentally brave and self-sacrificing man who arguably saved all of Europe from Nazi control by political and societal standards of more than a century later.
Churchill's victories politically at home and on the world stage are in no small measure due to the tireless efforts of his wife. She was not only his personal cheerleader -- no small task with a man with a huge ego and who would become depressed and crotchety when deprived of the limelight -- but his political advisor. She had a keen understanding of politics that Winston often lacked, and her advice about whom to approach, and when, and how, to achieve his goals was often more accurate than his own. Eventually she became a political force on her own, using her superb organizing skills to manage canteens for soldiers during WWI, involving the efforts of thousands of volunteers. She met with cabinet ministers and military officers, privy to information never before offered to a prime minister's wife. As her political instincts became more acute, she learned how to protect her husband from some of his own most impulsive ideas -- such as serving at the front when he enlisted in WWI -- while also campaigning for his return to government after he had lost his position as Lord of the Admiralty and when the opposing Labor party took over.
Clementine and Winston had a stormy marriage, and spent an inordinate amount of time apart from one another. This author claims that Clementine, far more than Winston, suffered bouts of "the black dog" of depression that he was known for. He drove her crazy with his inability to economize and insisting on lavish dinner parties and expensive clothing, cigars and liquor, when their income couldn't justify it. The toll of politicking and of the dramatic ups and downs of their life during two world wars led Clementine to run off frequently for weeks-long vacations elsewhere in Europe, usually without her children. In fact, it seems clear that her maternal instinct was in short supply, and she never seemed to have a natural knack for loving up her children in the way they must have craved.
Her role during WWII was equally instrumental, as she organized a hugely successful fund to help feed Russians starving from the war. Winston already mistrusted the Russians and feared them nearly as much as he did the Nazis, yet at that moment in history, they had no choice but to cozy up to the Russians and finish off Hitler. Clementine traveled widely throughout the world, was apparently loved and hugely admired in her own right, and, in an interesting contrast to Eleanor Roosevelt, was consulted by Winston on every major move before he took action. FDR apparently didn't want the pushback that he expected from Eleanor when hearing many of his ideas, and even when it came to the D-Day invasion, Clementine knew about it far in advance; Eleanor Roosevelt heard it on the news. While Eleanor Roosevelt is seen -- and with good cause -- as a champion of women's rights, I was fascinated to see how the far more traditional Clementine ended up playing just as significant a role as a women's advocate, yet using a more traditional behavioral model.
Clementine was always dressed and coiffed elegantly, her statuesque, bold beauty seemingly growing over the years and not diminishing. While she often "ran away" for spa and rest treatments to reinvigorate herself for whatever was next in her incredibly dramatic life, her love for her husband, self-absorbed as he always remained, was steadfast. She was married to a man who was brilliant, fearless, immensely talented, witty, and more than all that, the man who taught England and much of Europe, to never lose hope or lose heart, as they fought the most vicious totalitarian scourge the world had yet seen, and through his personal courage demonstrated why his greatness remains an endless source of study and fascination today.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.