Mother of the year she was not but “without her the history of Winston Churchill and the world would have been a very different story.”
17 Bookers (including our own masked Melba Holt driving in from Dallas) to celebrate the beginning of our 18th year of reading with friends and fellow book lovers at the home of Jean Alexander with Patty Evans leading the discussion of this month’s selection. Melba brought prayer requests for Shirley and Jim Crofford (friends and past Pinnacle residents) as they both struggle with health issues. Prayers are not of many words, but of Oneness – the world’s mightiest healing force. Please keep them close to your hearts as they navigate through this chapter.
Bookers’ members Barbara Creach and Sandy Molander both recently lost their husbands, and our thoughts are with them as well. New member Judy Short attended her second Bookers meeting, her first being our end-of-year celebration in June. Welcome back!
I’ve always been a vivid dreamer, so this came as no surprise when early Sunday morning I was staring into the infectious smile of our Daryl Daniels…she said I read your book, gave it a thumbs up and I woke up. She and Beverly Dossett are truly missed but I’m certain they’re keeping an eye on Bookers to make sure we’re keeping the standard high!
Thanks to everyone who contributed to Bookers’ slush fund used for out-of-pocket expenses and it is my hope we don’t have to use a dime of it this year…stay healthy my friends!
Many thanks to our book selection team for their tireless efforts to bring us choices that will stimulate conversation. We are delighted that Patty Evans has volunteered to join the committee!
Sonia Purnell is a journalist and bestselling author known for her lively writing style and meticulous research. Clementine was her second book and has been optioned for a Hollywood movie. Her latest and yet to be released, A Woman of No Importance, is the true-life tale of a female spy in WWII, Virginia Hall, a young American socialite with a wooden leg, who helped fan the flames of French Resistance – the rights already sold to Paramount for a major film starring Daisy Ridley – the English actress of Star Wars fame.
Biographies can be a bit stuffy but this one read more like a novel narrative although some of the historical detail interrupted the flow. It begins as British, American, and Canadian troops, code name, Operation Overlord, are set to invade Normandy with the largest amphibious assaults in modern history. This Allied invasion of Nazi occupied France was the decisive moment in World War II resulting in the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. No other instance in history “when the future of the world had so depended on the courage of a single man.” Churchill – what was inside him that allowed him to stand up to Hitler and command men to their certain deaths? He was an ailing heavy drinker and cigar smoker well into his 60s and strangely vulnerable and in need of protection.
Enter Clementine. She was “in a way his ultimate authority, his conscience, and the nearest he had to a direct line to the people.” Together they spent three decades united by a common project – making him Prime Minister. He embodied British courage and resolve but took “his strength from Clemmie.” She boosted and never betrayed; counseled but challenged, chided and consoled – shored up his inadequacies, moderated his extremes and stopped him from making countless mistakes.” War helped her rediscover her sense of purpose and it was not as a mother – with her husband and country under siege she had a role despite having a newborn and two young children – her maternal duties not holding her back from her full-time job of preserving Winston’s image by directing criticism away from his actions.
We watch as the couple navigate through two world wars, two stints as Prime Minister, numerous financial disasters, the disappointment and often disapproval of their children and immediate families, betrayals from friends and colleagues. Separate excursions, differences in political views – Clementine born a suffragist and Winston viewing the role of women in determining election outcomes as “we already have enough ignorant voters, and we don’t want any more” still allowed the affectionate side to surface as in their letters to each other were filled with declarations of love and respect.
Patty, drawn to character-driven works, focused on Clementine providing insights into the complexity of the person as well as her role as a wife and mother. She provided a pictorial diorama of the different stages in the life of Mrs. Winston Churchill that included a sixty-year marriage to one of the most unique figures in history. He was enamored with her beauty, intelligence, and political knowledge. She was his partner – one who did not flinch through the sweeping darkness of war and who would not surrender either to expectations or to enemies. Many wondered why Winston married her when he had the beautiful daughter of the Prime Minister at his beck and call. Clementine threw herself into being Churchill’s wife – the right sort of woman for him – one far from ordinary. She put her “rackety” background behind her, lost her shyness pushing to become incredibly wise, measured, knowledgeable and well-read. She struggled to maintain her own identity while serving as the conscience and principal adviser to one of the most important figures in history. Winston was attracted to her in part because of her unconventional background – she had no money, was making her own living, and unlike normal society women whose interests centered on clothing and parties. She was interested in what he had to say finding it thrilling and was elated when he talked about great and exciting world events – events that she longed to be a part of.
The couple were as similar as they were different, neither experiencing a steady and loving childhood. His mother, Jennie, reportedly considered him too “ugly, slouchy, and tiresome” to bother with, even forgetting his birthdays, until he became famous. His father, Lord Randolph, preferred his brother, Jack, with some historians suggesting he actually “loathed” Winston. Clementine was the granddaughter of a Scottish earl but was the target of cruel snobbery. Her mother, a Victorian “wild-child” sporting ten lovers at once as she desired to have children while her husband did not. As a result of this she was shunned by polite society and always had financial restraints. Her “alleged father” Sir Henry tried to kidnap her, but she escaped. Both were bullied in the early years, rumored to have been born out of marriage, craved comfort, and protection, were insecure and had to endure a mother’s “frantic sexual intrigue.” Neither formed close relationships easily. They were both adept at working the room with ease when it came to their agendas. They pulled out all the stops to sway the United States into joining the fight against the Nazis. And they both loved the play on words being very fond of paraprosdokians which are figures of speech in which the latter part of the sentence or phrase is unexpected and often humorous – like – Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in the garage makes you a car. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
They differed in that she was the fiduciary in the relationship – always concerned where the next pound would come from while he hopped between one bad investment to another. Chartwell, their working farm, was an example as he couldn’t “bear to have an animal slaughtered once he’d said good morning to it.” He secretly invested in American stocks right before the crash but somehow, he always came out of his self-imposed disasters on top thanks to gifts from his friends and benefactors like Charlie Chaplin and the Prince of Wales. Unfortunately, he didn’t get any smarter with failure but writing his articles brought a source of needed income – often to be able to pay the rent.
He made countless mistakes early in his career especially the Dardanelles incident during WWII considered a military disaster, but Clementine knew he had to redeem himself and prove he wasn’t just a hothead if he was to go forward with their Prime Minister plan. She encouraged or demanded he volunteer to fight in the trenches of the Western Front where a bullet could find him at any moment…she encouraged him not to come back too soon to prove he was a different man.
We discussed whether or not they were “true” to their marriage vows especially since it was reported that during their decades together, their daughter estimated they spent only 20% of their time together…formula for a happy marriage, at least for them. Clementine enjoyed the company and attention from her male “travel” companion but whether it was a platonic relationship remains at debate. Although “absent” parents, they did dote on their grandchildren. You have to wonder if this was somehow related to the death of their infant daughter, Marigold – their sunshine child – whose passing neither ever got over…maybe it was a time in their lives when all their goals had been met allowing them to just be grandparents.
As a whole we all enjoyed the story, albeit lengthy and detailed, and learned a great deal about this remarkable woman and her influence on her husband. Among thousands of favorable Amazon reviews, a one star stood out pointing to the “blatant” inaccuracies sprinkled throughout the book beginning on page one suggesting that Churchill instead of Eisenhower launched the D-Day invasion, the misinformation concerning Eleanor Roosevelt and her “staff” as well as the author’s patronizing characterization of American’s first lady smacking of British elitism and nasty when it came to descriptions of her appearance…one person’s opinion of course.
COLOR CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
October 12: The Audacity of Sara Grayson, Joani Elliott (BookTrib book)
Sara, a thirty-two-year-old greeting card writer is about to land the toughest assignment of her life. Three weeks after the death of her mother – a world famous suspense novelist – she learns her mother’s dying wish is for her to write the final book in her bestselling series.
PINK
Discussion Leader: JoDee Neathery
Home of Debbie Yarger
November 16: Note change of date
A Kind of Hush, JoDee Neathery
PINK
A conversation with the author. Bring your questions, your thoughts, and your book if you would like an autograph…I have bookmarks for all of you and if you need a copy of “Hush” I just happen to have a few copies – paperback and hardback – residing as guests in the extra bedroom.
Home of Ann Ireland
December 14: The Story of Arthur Truluv, Elizabeth Berg
For six months after his wife died, Arthur Moses’s life has been the same…tending to his rose garden and his cat, Gordon, then takes a bus to the cemetery to visit and have lunch with his late beloved wife. The last thing he imagined was that one unlikely encounter would change his life completely.
PINK
Discussion Leader: Rebecca Brisendine
Home of Bonnie Magee
January 11, 2022 In Five Years, Rebecca Serle
A striking, powerful, and moving love story following an ambitious lawyer who experiences an astonishing vision that could change her life forever.
PINK
Discussion Leader:
Home of
February 8: Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano
What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live? One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes and Edward is the only survivor.
PINK
Discussion Leader: Jean Alexander
Home of
March 8: The Address, Fiona Davis
When a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house, the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddenly awash in possibility – no mean feat for a servant in 1884.
PINK
Discussion Leader
Home of
April 12: Cher Ami & Major Whittlesey, Kathleen Rooney
From the green countryside of England and the gray canyons of Wall Street come two unlikely heroes – one pigeon and the other a soldier. Answering the call to serve in WWI neither the messenger bird nor Charles Whittlesey the army officer can anticipate how their lives will briefly intersect in a chaotic battle in the forests of France.
PINK
Discussion Leader:
Home of
May 10: Be Frank With Me, Julia Cleburne Johnson Debut
A reclusive literary legend who wrote a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning novel at nineteen has barely been seen or heard from since though, ironically, she still lives in a glass mansion in Bel Air even after having lost all her money in a Ponzi scheme. She needs to write another novel, so her publisher sends her a highly competent editorial assistant whose job is to be a companion to the author’s nine-year-old son – a boy with the intellect of Albert Einstein and the wardrobe of a 1930s movie star.
PINK
Discussion Leader
Home of
Summer Read: The Wives of Henry Oades, Johanna Moran
When Henry Oades accepts an accountancy post in New Zealand, his wife, Margaret, and their children follow him to exotic Wellington. But while Henry is an adventurer, Margaret is not. Their new home is rougher and more rustic than they expected—and a single night of tragedy shatters the family when the native Maori stage an uprising, kidnapping Margaret, and her children. The story is based on a real-life legal case.
PINK
“Life didn’t begin on a basis of less than forty pairs of shoes,” Winston’s mother Jennie.
I know a few people who would not argue with this rationale!
Happy Reading,
JoDee
Mother of the year she was not but “without her the history of Winston Churchill and the world would have been a very different story.”
17 Bookers (including our own masked Melba Holt driving in from Dallas) to celebrate the beginning of our 18th year of reading with friends and fellow book lovers at the home of Jean Alexander with Patty Evans leading the discussion of this month’s selection. Melba brought prayer requests for Shirley and Jim Crofford (friends and past Pinnacle residents) as they both struggle with health issues. Prayers are not of many words, but of Oneness – the world’s mightiest healing force. Please keep them close to your hearts as they navigate through this chapter.
Bookers’ members Barbara Creach and Sandy Molander both recently lost their husbands, and our thoughts are with them as well. New member Judy Short attended her second Bookers meeting, her first being our end-of-year celebration in June. Welcome back!
I’ve always been a vivid dreamer, so this came as no surprise when early Sunday morning I was staring into the infectious smile of our Daryl Daniels…she said I read your book, gave it a thumbs up and I woke up. She and Beverly Dossett are truly missed but I’m certain they’re keeping an eye on Bookers to make sure we’re keeping the standard high!
Thanks to everyone who contributed to Bookers’ slush fund used for out-of-pocket expenses and it is my hope we don’t have to use a dime of it this year…stay healthy my friends!
Many thanks to our book selection team for their tireless efforts to bring us choices that will stimulate conversation. We are delighted that Patty Evans has volunteered to join the committee!
Sonia Purnell is a journalist and bestselling author known for her lively writing style and meticulous research. Clementine was her second book and has been optioned for a Hollywood movie. Her latest and yet to be released, A Woman of No Importance, is the true-life tale of a female spy in WWII, Virginia Hall, a young American socialite with a wooden leg, who helped fan the flames of French Resistance – the rights already sold to Paramount for a major film starring Daisy Ridley – the English actress of Star Wars fame.
Biographies can be a bit stuffy but this one read more like a novel narrative although some of the historical detail interrupted the flow. It begins as British, American, and Canadian troops, code name, Operation Overlord, are set to invade Normandy with the largest amphibious assaults in modern history. This Allied invasion of Nazi occupied France was the decisive moment in World War II resulting in the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. No other instance in history “when the future of the world had so depended on the courage of a single man.” Churchill – what was inside him that allowed him to stand up to Hitler and command men to their certain deaths? He was an ailing heavy drinker and cigar smoker well into his 60s and strangely vulnerable and in need of protection.
Enter Clementine. She was “in a way his ultimate authority, his conscience, and the nearest he had to a direct line to the people.” Together they spent three decades united by a common project – making him Prime Minister. He embodied British courage and resolve but took “his strength from Clemmie.” She boosted and never betrayed; counseled but challenged, chided and consoled – shored up his inadequacies, moderated his extremes and stopped him from making countless mistakes.” War helped her rediscover her sense of purpose and it was not as a mother – with her husband and country under siege she had a role despite having a newborn and two young children – her maternal duties not holding her back from her full-time job of preserving Winston’s image by directing criticism away from his actions.
We watch as the couple navigate through two world wars, two stints as Prime Minister, numerous financial disasters, the disappointment and often disapproval of their children and immediate families, betrayals from friends and colleagues. Separate excursions, differences in political views – Clementine born a suffragist and Winston viewing the role of women in determining election outcomes as “we already have enough ignorant voters, and we don’t want any more” still allowed the affectionate side to surface as in their letters to each other were filled with declarations of love and respect.
Patty, drawn to character-driven works, focused on Clementine providing insights into the complexity of the person as well as her role as a wife and mother. She provided a pictorial diorama of the different stages in the life of Mrs. Winston Churchill that included a sixty-year marriage to one of the most unique figures in history. He was enamored with her beauty, intelligence, and political knowledge. She was his partner – one who did not flinch through the sweeping darkness of war and who would not surrender either to expectations or to enemies. Many wondered why Winston married her when he had the beautiful daughter of the Prime Minister at his beck and call. Clementine threw herself into being Churchill’s wife – the right sort of woman for him – one far from ordinary. She put her “rackety” background behind her, lost her shyness pushing to become incredibly wise, measured, knowledgeable and well-read. She struggled to maintain her own identity while serving as the conscience and principal adviser to one of the most important figures in history. Winston was attracted to her in part because of her unconventional background – she had no money, was making her own living, and unlike normal society women whose interests centered on clothing and parties. She was interested in what he had to say finding it thrilling and was elated when he talked about great and exciting world events – events that she longed to be a part of.
The couple were as similar as they were different, neither experiencing a steady and loving childhood. His mother, Jennie, reportedly considered him too “ugly, slouchy, and tiresome” to bother with, even forgetting his birthdays, until he became famous. His father, Lord Randolph, preferred his brother, Jack, with some historians suggesting he actually “loathed” Winston. Clementine was the granddaughter of a Scottish earl but was the target of cruel snobbery. Her mother, a Victorian “wild-child” sporting ten lovers at once as she desired to have children while her husband did not. As a result of this she was shunned by polite society and always had financial restraints. Her “alleged father” Sir Henry tried to kidnap her, but she escaped. Both were bullied in the early years, rumored to have been born out of marriage, craved comfort, and protection, were insecure and had to endure a mother’s “frantic sexual intrigue.” Neither formed close relationships easily. They were both adept at working the room with ease when it came to their agendas. They pulled out all the stops to sway the United States into joining the fight against the Nazis. And they both loved the play on words being very fond of paraprosdokians which are figures of speech in which the latter part of the sentence or phrase is unexpected and often humorous – like – Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in the garage makes you a car. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
They differed in that she was the fiduciary in the relationship – always concerned where the next pound would come from while he hopped between one bad investment to another. Chartwell, their working farm, was an example as he couldn’t “bear to have an animal slaughtered once he’d said good morning to it.” He secretly invested in American stocks right before the crash but somehow, he always came out of his self-imposed disasters on top thanks to gifts from his friends and benefactors like Charlie Chaplin and the Prince of Wales. Unfortunately, he didn’t get any smarter with failure but writing his articles brought a source of needed income – often to be able to pay the rent.
He made countless mistakes early in his career especially the Dardanelles incident during WWII considered a military disaster, but Clementine knew he had to redeem himself and prove he wasn’t just a hothead if he was to go forward with their Prime Minister plan. She encouraged or demanded he volunteer to fight in the trenches of the Western Front where a bullet could find him at any moment…she encouraged him not to come back too soon to prove he was a different man.
We discussed whether or not they were “true” to their marriage vows especially since it was reported that during their decades together, their daughter estimated they spent only 20% of their time together…formula for a happy marriage, at least for them. Clementine enjoyed the company and attention from her male “travel” companion but whether it was a platonic relationship remains at debate. Although “absent” parents, they did dote on their grandchildren. You have to wonder if this was somehow related to the death of their infant daughter, Marigold – their sunshine child – whose passing neither ever got over…maybe it was a time in their lives when all their goals had been met allowing them to just be grandparents.
As a whole we all enjoyed the story, albeit lengthy and detailed, and learned a great deal about this remarkable woman and her influence on her husband. Among thousands of favorable Amazon reviews, a one star stood out pointing to the “blatant” inaccuracies sprinkled throughout the book beginning on page one suggesting that Churchill instead of Eisenhower launched the D-Day invasion, the misinformation concerning Eleanor Roosevelt and her “staff” as well as the author’s patronizing characterization of American’s first lady smacking of British elitism and nasty when it came to descriptions of her appearance…one person’s opinion of course.
COLOR CODING SYSTEM
WHITE: LIGHT READ
PINK: MODERATELY CHALLENGING
RED: CHALLENGING
October 12: The Audacity of Sara Grayson, Joani Elliott (BookTrib book)
Sara, a thirty-two-year-old greeting card writer is about to land the toughest assignment of her life. Three weeks after the death of her mother – a world famous suspense novelist – she learns her mother’s dying wish is for her to write the final book in her bestselling series.
PINK
Discussion Leader: JoDee Neathery
Home of Debbie Yarger
November 16: Note change of date
A Kind of Hush, JoDee Neathery
PINK
A conversation with the author. Bring your questions, your thoughts, and your book if you would like an autograph…I have bookmarks for all of you and if you need a copy of “Hush” I just happen to have a few copies – paperback and hardback – residing as guests in the extra bedroom.
Home of Ann Ireland
December 14: The Story of Arthur Truluv, Elizabeth Berg
For six months after his wife died, Arthur Moses’s life has been the same…tending to his rose garden and his cat, Gordon, then takes a bus to the cemetery to visit and have lunch with his late beloved wife. The last thing he imagined was that one unlikely encounter would change his life completely.
PINK
Discussion Leader: Rebecca Brisendine
Home of Bonnie Magee
January 11, 2022 In Five Years, Rebecca Serle
A striking, powerful, and moving love story following an ambitious lawyer who experiences an astonishing vision that could change her life forever.
PINK
Discussion Leader:
Home of
February 8: Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano
What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live? One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes and Edward is the only survivor.
PINK
Discussion Leader: Jean Alexander
Home of
March 8: The Address, Fiona Davis
When a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house, the Dakota, leads to a job offer for Sara Smythe, her world is suddenly awash in possibility – no mean feat for a servant in 1884.
PINK
Discussion Leader
Home of
April 12: Cher Ami & Major Whittlesey, Kathleen Rooney
From the green countryside of England and the gray canyons of Wall Street come two unlikely heroes – one pigeon and the other a soldier. Answering the call to serve in WWI neither the messenger bird nor Charles Whittlesey the army officer can anticipate how their lives will briefly intersect in a chaotic battle in the forests of France.
PINK
Discussion Leader:
Home of
May 10: Be Frank With Me, Julia Cleburne Johnson Debut
A reclusive literary legend who wrote a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning novel at nineteen has barely been seen or heard from since though, ironically, she still lives in a glass mansion in Bel Air even after having lost all her money in a Ponzi scheme. She needs to write another novel, so her publisher sends her a highly competent editorial assistant whose job is to be a companion to the author’s nine-year-old son – a boy with the intellect of Albert Einstein and the wardrobe of a 1930s movie star.
PINK
Discussion Leader
Home of
Summer Read: The Wives of Henry Oades, Johanna Moran
When Henry Oades accepts an accountancy post in New Zealand, his wife, Margaret, and their children follow him to exotic Wellington. But while Henry is an adventurer, Margaret is not. Their new home is rougher and more rustic than they expected—and a single night of tragedy shatters the family when the native Maori stage an uprising, kidnapping Margaret, and her children. The story is based on a real-life legal case.
PINK
“Life didn’t begin on a basis of less than forty pairs of shoes,” Winston’s mother Jennie.
I know a few people who would not argue with this rationale!
Happy Reading,
JoDee
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