About this book
Erik Larson's book covers the twelve months from May 1940, when Winston Churchill became prime minister, through the fall of France, the Battle of Britain and the German bombing campaign against British cities. It is a story of a country facing invasion and a leader trying to hold it together.
Larson tells it from inside Churchill's circle. Alongside the prime minister himself, we meet his wife Clementine, his children, his private secretaries and the colleagues who worked with him daily. Drawing on diaries and personal papers, Larson moves between the decisions in Downing Street and the domestic life that carried on amid air raids and exhaustion.
What makes the book stand out is its intimacy. It is less a military history than a portrait of leadership, morale and family under extreme pressure, written with Larson's familiar narrative pace and an eye for telling detail. Readers who want the whole of Churchill's life should continue with Churchill: Walking with Destiny.
Who it’s for
A rewarding choice for readers who enjoy character-driven history; highly accessible and well suited to anyone new to the Second World War.
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