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71 reviews for:
The Churchill Sisters: The Extraordinary Lives of Winston and Clementine's Daughters
Rachel Trethewey
3.79 AVERAGE
71 reviews for:
The Churchill Sisters: The Extraordinary Lives of Winston and Clementine's Daughters
Rachel Trethewey
3.79 AVERAGE
Really a 3.5 star book, but alas that is not an option.
It is easy being overshadowed as a Churchill family member, so many big, public personalities to choose from: Mitfords, Duke of Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt, their brother Randolph and his first wife Pamela etc..This is the story of the Churchill sisters: Diana, astute political wife; Sarah, struggling actress; Marigold, lost much too soon; and Mary, homemaker and change maker. Each had very different relationships with their mother who raised them with typical Edwardian distance (slightly corrected with Mary) and a father who was very present and doting. They were loyal to their very core, to each other and their family. I love seeing the famous Winston Churchill’s sweet paternal side. Clementine and Winston may have not known how to to help Diana and Sarah with their mental health struggles or marriages, but they did try to find every resource and cover the cost of them getting help. Never abandon them with tabloid stories smearing with their struggles. This is a tender story of family and the roles everyone plays.
It is easy being overshadowed as a Churchill family member, so many big, public personalities to choose from: Mitfords, Duke of Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt, their brother Randolph and his first wife Pamela etc..This is the story of the Churchill sisters: Diana, astute political wife; Sarah, struggling actress; Marigold, lost much too soon; and Mary, homemaker and change maker. Each had very different relationships with their mother who raised them with typical Edwardian distance (slightly corrected with Mary) and a father who was very present and doting. They were loyal to their very core, to each other and their family. I love seeing the famous Winston Churchill’s sweet paternal side. Clementine and Winston may have not known how to to help Diana and Sarah with their mental health struggles or marriages, but they did try to find every resource and cover the cost of them getting help. Never abandon them with tabloid stories smearing with their struggles. This is a tender story of family and the roles everyone plays.
This is so well done — I’m a sucker for epic biographies, and especially about WWII era figures. What I love, firstly, about this book specifically is that it focuses on the three Churchill daughters, Diana, Sarah, and Mary. There are numerous books about Winston Churchill, and Clementine, but I found this book to be more interesting (to me) than any previous books I’ve read.
Obviously this book covers a lot of ground, from the birth of Diana in 1909 to the death of Mary in 2014. But I never felt overwhelmed with information or confused about the timeline. I think this book was structured very well, and I liked seeing all of the through lines woven in throughout the book. And of course, I am a giant nerd and very much appreciate the extensive bibliography and notes section :)
This book places the Churchill sisters in context, socially, historically, etc. It was so interesting to me how different, yet similar each of the sisters were. Particularly at the end, when the author made the point of saying that Diana and Sarah went in completely opposite life directions while Mary kind of had the best of both worlds, and was the happiest sister. No doubt stemming from her childhood and security with Moppet vs. Diana and Sarah dealing with Edwardian Clementine who didn’t really know how to effectively parent. This book makes me want to go seek out additional information, and particularly I want to read both Sarah and Mary’s memoirs!!
Obviously this book covers a lot of ground, from the birth of Diana in 1909 to the death of Mary in 2014. But I never felt overwhelmed with information or confused about the timeline. I think this book was structured very well, and I liked seeing all of the through lines woven in throughout the book. And of course, I am a giant nerd and very much appreciate the extensive bibliography and notes section :)
This book places the Churchill sisters in context, socially, historically, etc. It was so interesting to me how different, yet similar each of the sisters were. Particularly at the end, when the author made the point of saying that Diana and Sarah went in completely opposite life directions while Mary kind of had the best of both worlds, and was the happiest sister. No doubt stemming from her childhood and security with Moppet vs. Diana and Sarah dealing with Edwardian Clementine who didn’t really know how to effectively parent. This book makes me want to go seek out additional information, and particularly I want to read both Sarah and Mary’s memoirs!!
4.5⭐️ I never choose to read biographies. Typically I find them long, wordy and hard to follow. This story felt SO different, and I was hooked. Thretheway did such a great job detailing Winston, Clementine and the Churchill sisters’ (Diana, Sarah and Mary) lives. The story was broken into three parts: the girls’ childhoods, the war years, and life after the war. I loved reading about how caring and nurturing Winston was, especially when his children were struggling, and they did face many hardships. It was also great to see how supportive the sisters were to one another. I feel like I learned a lot with this book and the information did not feel like overload.
This book follows the life arcs of Winston and Clementine Churchills' daughters, Diana, Sara, Mary, and the short life of Marigold.
I found this book interesting, discovered information I didn't know. The life arcs of the sisters differ, it seem the youngest had the happier life. All of the sisters had challenges, some owing to the times they lived in, and the times they were raised in, not to mention the family the were born into.
I'm giving this book five stars, I truly enjoyed reading this book.
I found this book interesting, discovered information I didn't know. The life arcs of the sisters differ, it seem the youngest had the happier life. All of the sisters had challenges, some owing to the times they lived in, and the times they were raised in, not to mention the family the were born into.
I'm giving this book five stars, I truly enjoyed reading this book.
I’ve read a lot about Winston Churchill (The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History by Boris Johnson, Kindle Deal of the Day: Churchill: Walking With Destiny only $1.99, #NetGalley #KindleReview Churchill: An Illustrated Life by Brenda Ralph Lewis, as well as a few biographies about his wife Clementine, especially Mary’s biography of her mother (Amazon) as well as her own memoir, A Daughter’s Tale. Then there was the historical fiction novel Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict that included most of the facts gleaned from Mary’s biography. I’ve also seen many documentaries about Churchill and if they were produced long enough ago, their daughter Mary is interviewed. So I knew quite a bit about the Churchills, but am always curious to learn more. I was offered an ARC of The Churchill Sisters from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
When I read biographies of famous people, I also try to concentrate on what they were like with their family. Sometimes biographers barely mention that and only concentrate on the career successes and failures. However, with some of the Churchill biographies, I found details that said that they were both good parents in their own way. Clementine was remote in an Edwardian England upper crust society sort of way, but grew closer to her children as they got older. Winston was said to be a good father whenever he was present, which unfortunately wasn’t often in the early years. He’s the one who got down on the floor and played with his little “ducklings.”
The Churchill Sisters (Amazon) explores the lives of the four daughters of Winston and Clementine: Diana, Sarah, Marigold, and Mary. As I mentioned, I read Mary’s very enlightening memoir a few years ago, and she painted a picture of a good upbringing. As the youngest child, separated in age by quite a few years, her upbringing was much different than the upbringing of her sisters and brother. They did not have the same loving and stable household.
The older children went through a series of mediocre nannies. Clementine often couldn’t handle the stress of raising young children, even with help, and would go abroad on vacation for weeks or months. Winston, too, when he wasn’t working, would take vacations away from the kids. It was during one these breaks from the children that Winston and Clementine, vacationing together, found out their daughter, Marigold, who was about two and a half years old, was seriously ill. They hurried home, but they had been alerted too late by an inexperienced nanny who let Marigold get very sick before summoning them. Marigold died. Winston and Clementine were bereft, and Clementine swore that things would be different for the baby she carried at the time, Mary. Mary had a loving nanny named Moppet that stayed with the family until Mary was grown up, providing love and a sense of security the older children did not enjoy.
One thing the book does well is show how hard the daughter’s helped out during World War II. They actually did war work and did it rather well. The young women were all stationed close to home, and were often guests of their parents. One funny story is how Sarah was working with classified information, and Winston made a statement regarding the war effort, and Sarah politely corrected him based upon the information she knew. Then Winston ended up telling Eleanor Roosevelt, who told a reporter, and Sarah was supposed to be reprimanded, until her bosses found out it was her father was the one who leaked the information.
The older girls had issues and mental health issues, and turned to drink just as their brother, Randolph did. Sarah had a career as an actress as a dancer, her highlight was appearing in the MGM Musical Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire (Amazon Prime Video). She married several times but never had children. Diana was married late by the day’s standards and had three children. Her husband held some political offices as appointed by Winston, and did well, and Diana has an astute political mind, but did not want to run for office herself. Besides, for the time, it would have been very uncommon.
Both Diana and Sarah (and Randolph, too, for that matter) died young. Diana took her own life, without warning when she seemed to have her life together at last, and Sarah died from complications of alcoholism. Only Mary, the youngest, most secure, most grounded, lived a full and mostly happy life with her husband Christopher Soames and their five children.
This was a very accurate and enlightening biography of Winston’s and Clementine’s daughters, and I’m glad I read it. It was well-written and I highly recommend it.
When I read biographies of famous people, I also try to concentrate on what they were like with their family. Sometimes biographers barely mention that and only concentrate on the career successes and failures. However, with some of the Churchill biographies, I found details that said that they were both good parents in their own way. Clementine was remote in an Edwardian England upper crust society sort of way, but grew closer to her children as they got older. Winston was said to be a good father whenever he was present, which unfortunately wasn’t often in the early years. He’s the one who got down on the floor and played with his little “ducklings.”
The Churchill Sisters (Amazon) explores the lives of the four daughters of Winston and Clementine: Diana, Sarah, Marigold, and Mary. As I mentioned, I read Mary’s very enlightening memoir a few years ago, and she painted a picture of a good upbringing. As the youngest child, separated in age by quite a few years, her upbringing was much different than the upbringing of her sisters and brother. They did not have the same loving and stable household.
The older children went through a series of mediocre nannies. Clementine often couldn’t handle the stress of raising young children, even with help, and would go abroad on vacation for weeks or months. Winston, too, when he wasn’t working, would take vacations away from the kids. It was during one these breaks from the children that Winston and Clementine, vacationing together, found out their daughter, Marigold, who was about two and a half years old, was seriously ill. They hurried home, but they had been alerted too late by an inexperienced nanny who let Marigold get very sick before summoning them. Marigold died. Winston and Clementine were bereft, and Clementine swore that things would be different for the baby she carried at the time, Mary. Mary had a loving nanny named Moppet that stayed with the family until Mary was grown up, providing love and a sense of security the older children did not enjoy.
One thing the book does well is show how hard the daughter’s helped out during World War II. They actually did war work and did it rather well. The young women were all stationed close to home, and were often guests of their parents. One funny story is how Sarah was working with classified information, and Winston made a statement regarding the war effort, and Sarah politely corrected him based upon the information she knew. Then Winston ended up telling Eleanor Roosevelt, who told a reporter, and Sarah was supposed to be reprimanded, until her bosses found out it was her father was the one who leaked the information.
The older girls had issues and mental health issues, and turned to drink just as their brother, Randolph did. Sarah had a career as an actress as a dancer, her highlight was appearing in the MGM Musical Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire (Amazon Prime Video). She married several times but never had children. Diana was married late by the day’s standards and had three children. Her husband held some political offices as appointed by Winston, and did well, and Diana has an astute political mind, but did not want to run for office herself. Besides, for the time, it would have been very uncommon.
Both Diana and Sarah (and Randolph, too, for that matter) died young. Diana took her own life, without warning when she seemed to have her life together at last, and Sarah died from complications of alcoholism. Only Mary, the youngest, most secure, most grounded, lived a full and mostly happy life with her husband Christopher Soames and their five children.
This was a very accurate and enlightening biography of Winston’s and Clementine’s daughters, and I’m glad I read it. It was well-written and I highly recommend it.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I was lucky to win this from Goodreads. And it is exactly that; a good read. An excellent family biography of these sisters. If you have read Daughters of Yalta, this is a fine book to pair with it.
A thoroughly well researched look at the family of Winston Churchill, this book provided such an intimate look at the entire Churchill family but the main focus was the three daughters. I found each of their stories to be so unique and often quite sad. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great historical books.
This is a fantastic biography, but the title is a bit deceiving as the book is really the story of Winston Churchill's family as a whole, with some emphasis on the impact his daughters had on his career and the larger war effort and society before / after the war. I have previously read both fiction and non-fiction books about Winston and his wife, Clementine, and find this family to be an interesting study of the time. Many readers today find Clementine to be a poor mother, but I feel Clementine was a woman ahead of her time, trapped in a society that did not allow women to have much of a life outside of motherhood - so of course she doesn't live up to those standards. Had she lived today, I'm not sure anyone would be so critical of her need for time away from the demands of her role as Winston's wife and Winston's children's mother. Unfortunately, I'm not sure this particular book painted Clementine's unique personality and contributions in a very favorable light. I hope readers will do additional research into Clementine's life and her contributions to women's issue (often in opposition to Winston) after reading this. Overall though, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in British history, an introductory dive into the Churchill family, or an in-depth read about the Churchill children. I enjoyed the author's writing style and it was obvious the subject was meticulously researched by the author.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I knew nothing about Winston Churchill's daughters before reading this book. If truth be told, I wasn't aware he had daughters before this book, which pretty much sums up one of the main themes of the book, growing up in the shadow of one of the most consequential people of the 20th century.
Diana, Sarah, and Mary led unique, fascinating, and at times, tragic lives and they each deserve their own biographies based on the introduction to their lives that this book provides.
Diana, Sarah, and Mary led unique, fascinating, and at times, tragic lives and they each deserve their own biographies based on the introduction to their lives that this book provides.