Take a photo of a barcode or cover
71 reviews for:
The Churchill Sisters: The Extraordinary Lives of Winston and Clementine's Daughters
Rachel Trethewey
3.8 AVERAGE
71 reviews for:
The Churchill Sisters: The Extraordinary Lives of Winston and Clementine's Daughters
Rachel Trethewey
3.8 AVERAGE
Deeply perplexed by the author’s continual referral to alcoholism as “a drink problem.”
This could more appropriately be subtitled, Public Figures Are Really Not That Interesting.
Three beautiful, talented sisters from an illustrious family, The Churchill Sisters Diana, Sarah, and Mary Churchill each had different personalities but shared in common their idolization of their father, Winston.
Winston was a loving and involved father, while Clementine needed distance and often escaped the demands of her life by taking vacations apart from the family. Later in life, she developed better rapport with her girls, but it was Winston who was always the center of the home.
I loved learning about these woman, especially their service during the war and their role supporting their father politically. But I was saddened to know that, like their brother Randolph, who is believed to have suffered from bipolar disease, they did not have happy ever after lives.
Sarah served in photo reconnaissance during WWII. After the war, she resumed her life as an actress. Her commitment to her career resulted in several failed marriages. Then, she suffered the loss of her beloved soul-mate. She struggled with self-esteem issues and alcoholism.
Diana had a career in the Royal Navy Services during the war, but later had two failed marriages and contended with mental health issues.
Mary served during the war in anti-aircraft batteries and accompanied her father on important political missions. She had a successful marriage and children and wrote her parent’s biographies.
This accessible, concise, and moving group biography will appeal to many kinds of readers.
I was given a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Winston was a loving and involved father, while Clementine needed distance and often escaped the demands of her life by taking vacations apart from the family. Later in life, she developed better rapport with her girls, but it was Winston who was always the center of the home.
I loved learning about these woman, especially their service during the war and their role supporting their father politically. But I was saddened to know that, like their brother Randolph, who is believed to have suffered from bipolar disease, they did not have happy ever after lives.
Sarah served in photo reconnaissance during WWII. After the war, she resumed her life as an actress. Her commitment to her career resulted in several failed marriages. Then, she suffered the loss of her beloved soul-mate. She struggled with self-esteem issues and alcoholism.
Diana had a career in the Royal Navy Services during the war, but later had two failed marriages and contended with mental health issues.
Mary served during the war in anti-aircraft batteries and accompanied her father on important political missions. She had a successful marriage and children and wrote her parent’s biographies.
This accessible, concise, and moving group biography will appeal to many kinds of readers.
I was given a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
good and very informative on some levels...accurate?-I venture to guess this is the sugar coated side of a very complex dynasty.
Reading about the lives of Winston Churchill gave me a greater insight into the period and also into their cousins, the Mitford sisters, who have always interested me. The problem with the book is that the author makes so many assumptions about how people felt and makes excuses especially Clementine Churchill, Winston's wife, who seems to have been a very self-centered, typically neglectful aristocratic British mother of a certain type. She showed blatant favoritism to her youngest daughter and expected her daughters to play "little wife" to their father pretty much all of their lives. It's also obvious that Sarah Churchill was an alcoholic--among other things, she was arrested in America for engaging in a drunken brawl and had cirrhosis of the liver when she died. So the author has done her research well and does give the reader the information to realize these truths but she doesn't draw the obvious unflattering inferences herself. In avoiding these bold strokes, the author fails her duty as a biographer.
Juliet Stevenson does a great job of narrating this one. She is easy to listen to and keeps the story engaging.
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I like to take a biography every once in a while and Churchill isn't someone I know a lot about so I figured why not. I loved the candid no nonsense view of the family. Dr. Trethewey doesn't hesitate to show their flaws as well as all the great stuff about the entire family. They seemed like great women and it was nice to learn about how being the daughter of such a huge personality affected them.
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I like to take a biography every once in a while and Churchill isn't someone I know a lot about so I figured why not. I loved the candid no nonsense view of the family. Dr. Trethewey doesn't hesitate to show their flaws as well as all the great stuff about the entire family. They seemed like great women and it was nice to learn about how being the daughter of such a huge personality affected them.
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
No rating. This was a DNF for me. Stopped at 23%; I felt like I was reading a highschooler's term paper.
I am ashamed to admit that I hadn't even realized that Churchill HAD daughters, so this made it interesting to me. There were 4 daughters, one of whom died as a toddler.
On the plus side: I admire when the author has done excellent research and such is the case here. Really the research is amazing. Also, I did learn a lot. Both of these are good things.
On the other hand: This book is super detailed (see my point above about the research). It just seemed so long and contained LOTS of information, some of which I really didn't need.
I would say that this book is also fairly one-sided about Winston, his wife Clementine and their children - and one-sided in being positive. I don't expect or want a book that is slinging mud, but events like the disaster at Gallipoli is covered in about one sentence, Winston was almost always just wonderful and Clementine's parenting style can't be criticized because she was a woman of her time and class.Their youngest daughter Mary seemed to have been the most well-adjusted but the others had a devotion to their father that was, to me, downright creepy.
An interesting read, but approach with caution if you expect a balanced book.
On the plus side: I admire when the author has done excellent research and such is the case here. Really the research is amazing. Also, I did learn a lot. Both of these are good things.
On the other hand: This book is super detailed (see my point above about the research). It just seemed so long and contained LOTS of information, some of which I really didn't need.
I would say that this book is also fairly one-sided about Winston, his wife Clementine and their children - and one-sided in being positive. I don't expect or want a book that is slinging mud, but events like the disaster at Gallipoli is covered in about one sentence, Winston was almost always just wonderful and Clementine's parenting style can't be criticized because she was a woman of her time and class.Their youngest daughter Mary seemed to have been the most well-adjusted but the others had a devotion to their father that was, to me, downright creepy.
An interesting read, but approach with caution if you expect a balanced book.
4 stars
The Churchill Sisters
by Dr. Rachel Trethewey
This is a very in-depth and highly researched book regarding Winston Churchill's daughters. I had honestly never knew much about them so this was quite a fascinating look into their lives.
Dr. Trethewey has done an absolutely remarkable job of showing each sister as an indivual who struggled with the legacy of being the child of Winston Churchill in their own unique way.
History buffs will enjoy this book a great deal. The sisters mother Clementine and brother Randolph are also featured within this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.
The Churchill Sisters
by Dr. Rachel Trethewey
This is a very in-depth and highly researched book regarding Winston Churchill's daughters. I had honestly never knew much about them so this was quite a fascinating look into their lives.
Dr. Trethewey has done an absolutely remarkable job of showing each sister as an indivual who struggled with the legacy of being the child of Winston Churchill in their own unique way.
History buffs will enjoy this book a great deal. The sisters mother Clementine and brother Randolph are also featured within this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.