Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Lady Clementine
Marie Benedict
eview by Priscilla Comen
Lady Clementine
Marie Benedict
eview by Priscilla Comen
Lady Clementine, by Marie Benedict, is the story of Clementine Churchill, the wife of Winston. She was a brilliant woman who stood beside the leader of Great Britain. Author Benedict shows us this strong woman. The story begins the night before Clementine’s wedding to Churchill when she dashes home to her sister, Nellie and brother, Bill, in order to calm her nerves.
In her own voice, Clemmie shows us how she met Churchill. He invited her for week-ends at Blenheim Castle, a magnificent mansion filled with portraits of ancestors by famous artists. It had beautiful gardens. Clementine tells us about the wedding. She walked down the aisle with her brother Bill, who told her to breathe. The bishop’s speech was long. After a honeymoon in Italy, Austria and Venice, they returned to London. Winston’s mother, Jenny, had re-decorated their master bedroom with frills and bows and ruffles. Clementine knows from this that she must be strong and not allow Winston’s mother to take over their lives.
After she has a baby, Diana, in 1909, Clementine resumes her role at Winston’s side, but feels isolated and sees her husband only on weekends. When a woman dressed as a suffragette pushes Winston into the path of an oncoming train at the station, Clemmie grabs him and saves him. She drops her support of the suffragettes. In 1911, Clementine moves from nursing her next baby, Randolph, to giving speeches for Winston. She rides in a parade for the coronation of King George V. Winston when he is appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, a key role as Germany rattles its sabers. Clementine must make do on a spare budget with only a few servants and no champagne for Winston. After World War I erupts, Clemmie moves to their seaside cottage with the children, although she’d rather be in London discussing battle plans and war ships with her husband. In 1914, a third child is born and Clemmie must juggle more tasks.
In 1916, Winston goes to fight on the actual battlefield. Clemmie must court journalists to write good things about her husband and lunch with government persons. She urges housewives to make gas masks and joins the munitions workers committee to ensure they have adequate food. She loves being in the thick of things. Their fourth child is born and Winston helps with the Versaille Treaty which ended the war. Clemmie spends two months on the French coast to recover from a nervous breakdown. Tragedy arrives with the deaths of her brother, Bill, Winston’s mother, Jenny, and their two year old daughter, Marigold.
Women gain the right to vote in 1928. Randolph has dropped out of Oxford and is a big gambler and drinker. Diana is divorced after a brief, bad marriage, and Sara is on the stage in a musical. Mary seems fine because of her nanny. Clemmie takes a trip to Bali and loves the calm she finds there. She tries to maintain the peace she found on the island. In 1939, Hitler marches into Poland and Winston is again made Lord of the Admiralty then soon appointed Prime Minister. Clemmie listens to his speeches and suggests changes to simplify the words. She gives women a role in fighting the war and goes into the bomb shelters to see how people are doing. When Harry Hopkins comes to London as FDR’s right hand man, she shows him the shelters and begs him to urge FDR and America to get into the war to help Britain. The author shows us what Clementine was like as Churchill’s wife for more than three decades — always beside him with ideas, writing speeches, and entertaining American dignitaries.
Find this fascinating novel on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
In her own voice, Clemmie shows us how she met Churchill. He invited her for week-ends at Blenheim Castle, a magnificent mansion filled with portraits of ancestors by famous artists. It had beautiful gardens. Clementine tells us about the wedding. She walked down the aisle with her brother Bill, who told her to breathe. The bishop’s speech was long. After a honeymoon in Italy, Austria and Venice, they returned to London. Winston’s mother, Jenny, had re-decorated their master bedroom with frills and bows and ruffles. Clementine knows from this that she must be strong and not allow Winston’s mother to take over their lives.
After she has a baby, Diana, in 1909, Clementine resumes her role at Winston’s side, but feels isolated and sees her husband only on weekends. When a woman dressed as a suffragette pushes Winston into the path of an oncoming train at the station, Clemmie grabs him and saves him. She drops her support of the suffragettes. In 1911, Clementine moves from nursing her next baby, Randolph, to giving speeches for Winston. She rides in a parade for the coronation of King George V. Winston when he is appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, a key role as Germany rattles its sabers. Clementine must make do on a spare budget with only a few servants and no champagne for Winston. After World War I erupts, Clemmie moves to their seaside cottage with the children, although she’d rather be in London discussing battle plans and war ships with her husband. In 1914, a third child is born and Clemmie must juggle more tasks.
In 1916, Winston goes to fight on the actual battlefield. Clemmie must court journalists to write good things about her husband and lunch with government persons. She urges housewives to make gas masks and joins the munitions workers committee to ensure they have adequate food. She loves being in the thick of things. Their fourth child is born and Winston helps with the Versaille Treaty which ended the war. Clemmie spends two months on the French coast to recover from a nervous breakdown. Tragedy arrives with the deaths of her brother, Bill, Winston’s mother, Jenny, and their two year old daughter, Marigold.
Women gain the right to vote in 1928. Randolph has dropped out of Oxford and is a big gambler and drinker. Diana is divorced after a brief, bad marriage, and Sara is on the stage in a musical. Mary seems fine because of her nanny. Clemmie takes a trip to Bali and loves the calm she finds there. She tries to maintain the peace she found on the island. In 1939, Hitler marches into Poland and Winston is again made Lord of the Admiralty then soon appointed Prime Minister. Clemmie listens to his speeches and suggests changes to simplify the words. She gives women a role in fighting the war and goes into the bomb shelters to see how people are doing. When Harry Hopkins comes to London as FDR’s right hand man, she shows him the shelters and begs him to urge FDR and America to get into the war to help Britain. The author shows us what Clementine was like as Churchill’s wife for more than three decades — always beside him with ideas, writing speeches, and entertaining American dignitaries.
Find this fascinating novel on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.