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    The Churchills: In Love and War
    The Churchills: In Love and War
    The Churchills: In Love and War
    Audiobook21 hours

    The Churchills: In Love and War

    Written by Mary S. Lovell

    Narrated by Anne Flosnik

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) was a soldier of such genius that a lavish palace, Blenheim, was built to honor his triumphs. Succeeding generations of Churchills sometimes achieved distinction but also included profligates and womanizers, and were saddled with the ruinous upkeep of Blenheim. The family fortunes were revived in the nineteenth century by the huge dowries of New York society beauties Jennie Jerome (Winston's mother) and Consuelo Vanderbilt (wife to Winston's cousin).

    Mary S. Lovell brilliantly recounts the triumphant political and military campaigns, the construction of great houses, the domestic tragedies, and the happy marriage of Winston to Clementine Hosier set against the disastrous unions of most of his family, which ended in venereal disease, papal annulment, clinical depression, and adultery.

    The Churchills were an extraordinary family: ambitious, impecunious, impulsive, brave, and arrogant. Winston-recently voted "The Greatest Briton"-dominates them all. His failures and triumphs are revealed in the context of a poignant and sometimes tragic private life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMay 18, 2011
    ISBN9781452672052
    The Churchills: In Love and War
    Author

    Mary S. Lovell

    Mary S. Lovell began writing in 1980 after a broken back forced her to take a sabbatical from a successful business career. Her first major biography was the international bestseller ‘Straight on till Morning’, a life of the intrepid aviatrix Beryl Markham. Since then she has built upon her reputation with a succession of acclaimed biographies, the research for which involved travel all over the world. She lives in Gloucestershire.

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    Reviews for The Churchills

    4/5

    58 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This book is a great read. For those who have difficulty reading history or biography this book is for you. It reads like a novel, yet is so informative. It puts a very human face on this great family, and particularly Winston and Clementine Churchill. It's a keeper!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      An interesting look at the wider family of Churchills. A worthwhile read although with some egregious historical errors.
    • 5/5
      Although I’ve read several books in which Winston Churchill was a prominent character, I’ve never read a biography of him. Not that reading biographies is painful to me, but The Churchills in Love and War has to be the least painful way to read biography. The author says right up front that some readers find the book “gossipy,” that other author have covered in depth various facets of Churchill’s life. She focused on the personal lives of several generations of the Churchill family. And it is “gossipy” in the very best way.The story starts in the Victorian era. But knowing the intimate lives of the aristocratic men and woman makes readers realize that, although sex was a taboo topic for conversation in that era, it was something that everyone – married and unmarried – spent a lot of time doing. Whew! But what about Winston Churchill? The author figures that he was an exception – that he was always faithful (at least physically) to his wife Clementine and she to him. I appreciated the author’s including a family tree to refer to … and that, when she referred to a new character, she included information about that person in a footnote. Sourcing information was included in backnotes. In other words, she made reading and making sense of all the convoluted relationships really easy. Fascinating story, a compelling read, and lots of research – who could ask more in a biography? I couldn’t put it down – and it also made me to want to start reading some of the books written by Sir Winston.
    • 5/5
      a great book.
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful book. I learned so much about the Churchills that I didn't know. What a complex family. So many smart and talented people. Even Winston was more than just a politician and statesman. He was a writer, speaker and artist. Some folks just have too many talents, where others can barely find one. I highly recommend this book and it has provided me with two additional books about the Churchills that I'd like to read. I was particularly fascinated by the relationship between Winston and Clementine.
    • 5/5
      Excellent book. Stays with you, such a pleasure to read.
    • 4/5
      I've read several excellent biographies of Winston Churchill, but Mary S. Lovell has gone out on a limb here by attempting a biography of the Churchill family from the time of the 1st Duke of Marlborough without devoting too much space to the most famous Churchill of all. By and large she achieves her goal, although by the time she reaches the early 20th century it becomes almost impossible to write anything without the gargantuan shadow of WSC hovering over every aspect of his family's story. Never mind, what she produces is a highly readable expansive, gossipy tale of a middling aristocratic family of the Victorian/Edwardian/Georgian eras, with much attention paid to their romantic hits and misses, and also the fact that they could be exceedingly nasty to one another upon occasion. It's not what I'd call an outstanding work of family history, but it is warm, funny, entertaining and sentimental. All in all, a great read.
    • 3/5
      The Churchills has the subtitle , "A Family at the heart of history from the Duke of Marlborough to Winston Churchill" is misleading as a title as the first hundred years of the family's history is covered in the first chapter, the next hundred years does not merit a mention . The author gets into her stride for the years after 1850 and the greater part of the book is on the life and times of an upper class aristocratic family in England through the first half of the 20th century. It is amazing how everyone who mattered was related. It is gossipy and racy in style and if you enjoy Hello magazine you will enjoy the vicarious insights into the lives of clever, proment families many of whom had inflated egos, unstable marriages, a drinking problem , health issues and a good few were psychologically unstable. Inherited wealth and glamourous lifestyles did not always make for happiness . Upper class English children were loved at a distance by their parents , were nurtured by nannies and quickly dispatched to public schools. The formula either broke you or made you fit for a life of adventure and public service. The hero of the book is undoubtedly Winston Churchill but there are many far better biographies of the 20th century statesman; his successful lengthy marriage to Clementine Hozier Churchill gave her the role of long suffering but enduring helpmate to the great man. They were not good parents but they loved and worried about their wayward off spring; they were both overindulgent and remote . There's a lot of recycled material here and many of the main characters have either written their own autobiographies or been the subject of better specialist biographies. I would have liked more about how people made their livings, whence came their incomes, other than sexual allure (the women), politics and going to war (the men) what were their professions ? Nonetheless the strength of this book is in its eminent readability and the weaving in of many family relations, all the inlaws and outlaws, close family, distant family, the aunts and uncles , the cousins and siblings. There is a deft interlinking of the public and private lives of this priveleged society family and their extended family. There is a great deal of name dropping and little attempt to assess the historical importance of specific individuals . Many of the minor family members had walk on parts and sad ultimtely embittered lives. One feels sorry for many of them. Throughout.the story, Blenheim, that great palace near Woodstock north of Oxford a gift to the first Duke of Marlborough for his military service to the nation , stands as a magnificent backdrop , a treasure and a white elephant; leaking roofs, death duties and wives with destructive dogs meant that it was a miracle in survival. Today lesser mortals can pay the entry fee and visit clutching a book or two on Churchill. It was here that Winston Churchill was born but he was fortunate to be the son of a younger son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough , so did not inherit the title or the responsibility for this great palace . Churchill made his own way in life as journalist, adventurer, soldier, politician, history, war leader and statesman . Lovell has written a blockbuster on the Mitford sisters with the result that these adored, witty sisters figure too prominently in this Churchill biography. Overall because it is a very human story and written in a human style (though with not too much political judgment) I shall keep thr book and add it to my Churchill library . Mary Lovell is an accomplished biographer but of the romantic , entertaining variety . I recommend her biography on Beryl Markham.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed reading this book a lot, there is a good flow in the writing and the stories and personalities are fascinating. Everybody knows Winston Churchill, but there were many things about his family and life I had no idea about, and I think it is also a good description of the life style of the upperclasses in the Victorian and Edwardian era. In other words, the topic is interesting and you want to keep on reading, and the writing is good. It is clear that Mary S.Lovell loves her topic, and the passion shows, but there is also a negative aspect to it, where sometimes she mentions incidents without them in anyway adding on to the narrative. She is also slightly pre-occupied with her own interest, and spends quite a lot of time on the Midfords, and fascinating though they were, maybe there were people that played a bigger role in the Churchill family? I also would have liked better footnotes, now we know the sources, but I would have liked to know much more. Thank god for the internet:). But, overall, this was a book that made me look forward reading it, that I thoroughly enjoyed and where I feel I learned a lot. And, as a result, I have about ten other books that I want to read, so what else can I ask for?
    • 3/5
      An enjoyable read when it comes to Winston and his wife and children, but does not live up to its promise. Hardly the close look at earlier generations of the family suggested by the inclusion on the book cover of photos of Jenny and Randolph, but a rehash of old material, some of it very out of date, that has appeared in earlier, better biographies.
    • 3/5
      Billed as a biography of the Churchill family from the first Duke through Winston Churchill, this book really covers Winston Churchill's parents and himself and his family, with just cursory glances at the first Duke, his wife, Sarah, and the other Dukes of Marlborough. Written in a breezy style, the author makes her biases known (she seems especially anxious to gloss over the somewhat dubious career of Pamela Digby Churchill Haywood Harriman) which makes this book a very juicy read.At almost 600 pages, I couldn't call this a light read, but it does go quickly and keeps the reader absorbed. I finished it in a little less than a week.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. The author tells a wonderful, multi-faceted tale that draws you in and makes you love (and hate) the people. And guess what? They're real! This book makes me want to read more non-fiction, which is not a common thing.