Jane Ridley
Grand Dame of Downing Street
First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill
By Sonia Purnell
Aurum Press 392pp £25
Clementine Churchill was remarkable not just for being the wife of the most famous British politician of the 20th century. She also became a major figure in her own right. Sonia Purnell claims in this new biography that Clementine was Churchill’s closest adviser and greatest influence. Her role has been underestimated. Forests of trees have been felled and libraries filled with books detailing every aspect of Winston Churchill’s career, but Clementine’s story has been neglected.
Clementine was twenty-three in 1908 when she married Winston, who was eleven years older. They resembled Beauty and the Beast. Winston was pink-skinned, round-shouldered, baby-faced and notoriously badly dressed. Clementine was taller than him and athletic, with a ‘splendid body’. She grew better-looking as she got older, and in her fifties she was stunning: white-haired and beautifully made up, with a wardrobe of bright chiffon turbans and leopard-skin coats.
Like Winston, she was the child of scandalous Edwardians. Churchill’s
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk