Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Rushing back to 10 Downing Street, Clementine is relieved to see the famous building is still standing despite the heavy bombing. It means the Prime Minister – her husband – is alive. Stepping through the door and into Winston’s arms, she is reassured by his steady heartbeat. Every day has been a fight for survival, with people losing loved ones all around her. She prays that this war will not cost her Winston.
Her husband has always dreamed of being Prime Minister; she knew from the moment they married thirty years ago that he wanted to lead the country. Since then, they’ve been a partnership in love and in politics. But, with the war against Hitler, it’s a much bigger responsibility than either of them ever expected. The world needs Winston, and Winston needs her.
While Winston co-ordinates battles across Europe, Clementine finds herself in the spotlight for the first time. Her husband’s name may be on the lips of every soldier and politician but she knows as she visits hospitals and air raid shelters, that the ordinary people speak her name just as much. She realises she has the potential to make a difference – not as Winston’s shadow in the background but as Clementine Churchill.
One evening, as she looks into Winston’s dear face, Clementine can tell his bravery comes at a cost. Can she help the man she loves finish the fight for freedom – or will this war cost them everything?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for copy of The English Wife to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The English Wife, the new book from Anna Stuart, provides the reader with a different insight into World War Two in that she focuses on the women behind the men. In this case Clementine Churchill, the loyal and steadfast wife of Winston Churchill. Being from Ireland, I knew very little about Winston except for that he was Prime minster during the war and without his strong leadership and dedication to the cause the war would not have been won. I knew nothing about his wife but now having finished this book I have been given a fascinating and gripping insight into life at the time and of a woman who was loyal and who stood by her husband through thick and thin. The story is told from the perspectives of Clementine and Jenny, a young American reporter who is married to Ned. I enjoyed going back and forth between the two women’s viewpoints as it provided a different angle regarding the same situation and it was interesting to see how they both approached things. The story itself could have felt jarring moving back and forth but instead it all flowed wonderfully. A lot of ground was covered in terms of the span of the book starting in 1938 and ending with the conclusion of the war but at no point did it feel rushed and throughout it I was learning facts and details about the war which I had known before.
This is not a book focused solely on Winston, although because the reader gets to know Clementine so well, we do come to appreciate how dogged and determined he was and also what clever and insightful characteristics he possessed. He could see the much bigger picture that was starting to unfold in 1938 and long before it and expressed his opinions but I felt there was no one that truly believed him. It’s only when he succeeds Chamberlain as Prime minster that he was taken seriously and his astuteness, education, awareness and the strong beliefs he possessed could then come to the fore.
I really enjoyed the fact that the author didn’t bog the story down in facts and detailed descriptions of significant war events. I have read about that before numerous times. Instead, she let the characters do the talking and the reader really got inside their heads as to how they were feeling, how they were torn when things weren’t going well, how best they could support the men and their families but also how could they forge a new path in a brave and uncertain world where women had to take on new roles outside the home.
Clementine Churchill was a remarkable women. Well that’s the word that kept springing to mind as I was delving deeper into the story. She was a family woman through and through, although two specific events in her past had her doubting herself but she shouldn’t have. She had enough love for so many and her generosity, kindness of spirit, integrity, humanity, strength and courage bore her through the turbulent years of the war. She was there for Winston every step of the way but at the same time she didn’t want to stand by and be just a prop for events or to entertain dignitaries etc. I felt her eyes were opened and she became fully aware of the situation on the ground as to how the lives of so many ordinary people were becoming disrupted and destroyed. She didn’t hide away in number ten just wishing the war years away.
Instead, she became steadfast in her involvement in charity work and improved the conditions of bomb shelters. She helped set up a hospital for those women whose men were away fighting and her work with the funds for Russia was incredible. I felt she was a woman who really came into her own when it was needed and she was determined that along with Winston they would weather the storms of his political career and their domestic life. I loved how the author didn’t portray Clementine’s life as being a bed of roses without trials or tribulations. In that way she felt like a person that ordinary people could identify with. Yet, when needed she could throw on her political hat and be there for Winston. Theirs wasn’t a simple relationship but the pride and the ferocity of her love for a man that would do anything to rid the world of Hitler shone through at every opportunity.
Jenny was in a completely different sphere to Clementine, Being American she had a different attitude towards things and she was very much like a fish out of water living in London. Ned as the star reporter for CBS and I thought for a lot of the book he was on a very different trajectory to Jenny and his words and actions demonstrated this. She had to find her place in London whilst he was away reporting and earning great acclaim for his work. What eats away at her is that despite being married for several years she has failed to have a much longed for child. She needed to take her mind off this and when she meets Clementine she feels she is a kindred spirit. Someone she can confide in and the similarities between the pair start to emerge over the course of the book. I did initially think why would a reporter have developed a friendship with the wife of someone so important at the time. Surely, there would have been a barrier of sorts between reporters and the people with such an important role to play in the war. But as the book progressed, I realised the value of their friendship and how it was central to the story as a whole.
Clementine became a role model for Jenny and I think this served her well especially when she had to confront a situation no woman wishes to have come into their life. The war brings out the best in women and both Jenny and Clementine have to adapt to their new roles as do hundreds of thousands of women. Women were stepping out of their comfort zones and doing things they wouldn’t have been allowed to do pre war. But the question was, would this be allowed to continue once the war had concluded? Jenny has a lot to navigate throughout the book. Her emotions are all over the place at times and to be honest I much preferred Clementine and would have been just as happy if the book just focused on her but I did appreciate the comparisons and contrasts that the reader could see between the pair and their husbands.
The English Wife was an engaging, intriguing and compelling insight into the world of British politics and transatlantic dealings at a very pivotal time in history. It felt like a history lesson but in a good way as it was interesting, informative and explanatory in a way that many readers will be able to access. Clementine Churchill has been given a strong voice and through this the story conveys love, loss, the relationship between husband and wife, sorrow, joy, resilience and courage. I was so glad that I read it and was delighted to see that there will be another book in what the author is calling Inspirational World War Two stories and this time it will focus on Eleanor Roosevelt who did feature here but I am excited to see what insights I will get in the future into another historical figure whose husband made an impressive impact on the world.
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