Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Voted by members for History & Biography Additional Read

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson



On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally--and willing to fight to the end.

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless." It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it's also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill's prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports--some released only recently--Larson provides a new lens on London's darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents' wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela's illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill's "Secret Circle," to whom he turns in the hardest moments.

This looks so interesting, I’m actually covering Hitler in my history now

I’ve been looking forward to reading this but I probably won’t start it until later in February. Im planning to focus on some light romance novels for the first half of February.

Is anyone reading this? I’ve just started this one

I read a little bit of this, couldn't get into it. I'm not a big fan of WWII era books. But I'm going to give it another try with the audiobook.

I’m experiencing the same, i’ve started a few days ago and while I do find it interesting I also find myself getting distracted quite easily while reading this please let me know if the audiobook helps if you would

I read it with an online book club over the summer and SOOOOO appreciated doing this along with them. We separated the book into 4 or 5 sections and met several times throughout to discuss as we went. The moderator would share images of characters/sections on the screen each meeting too. There were also participants who lived through WWII and were able to share their personal experiences and knowledge. This made this book and discussion so much richer. I honestly don't know if I would have gotten through it otherwise as I find Larson's writing so heavy and very didactic.

I just started this and I find it quite interesting. Also been learning lots of random facts about Churchill.

Lory, that sounds like an amazing book club.

I’m at chapter 68 now but I’ll not be finishing this one, its interesting but its starting to feel like a chore :(

I'm planning on getting to this sometime next week.

I want to try and get this one in this month, as I have the book from the library and the Audio just came in, too.

Dennis, I was afraid I might feel the same as you w/this book. I think reading and having the Audio Will make it much more interesting. I will give it a try.

I hope the audio helps, if it does please let me know if that’s okay

Dennis wrote: "I hope the audio helps, if it does please let me know if that’s okay"

Yes, I definitely will. I got the Audio from my e-books/Libby from my library,and there was not a wait. Now there probably is.

With Non-Fiction, I really like, but sometimes the books are long and dense, so can drag a bit. I’m not sure if I’m going to like this one either.

Thank you, I appreciate that, I do hope you enjoy it though its not bad, just very lengthy

I struggled as well, I had it on waitless forever and I was so excited when I got it. I managed to get halfway through but I just couldn't pay attention and it was reading like a textbook for me. I loved the devil in the White City. I had audio as well It didn't help.

Julia wrote: "I struggled as well, I had it on waitless forever and I was so excited when I got it. I managed to get halfway through but I just couldn't pay attention and it was reading like a textbook for me. I..."

Thanks for the update. I have this out right now and think I may skip it. If it’s going to drag that much even including the audio, probably not interested.

I have been enjoying learning all the things I never knew about Churchill, especially all his personality quirks. However, it is slow going. I doubt I will finish this book this month, however, I do plan to continue with it slowly, picking it up every now and then when I feel like it.

The waitlist for this book at my library was long, so I just started reading it today. I have read a lot about WW2, but nothing about Churchill, so let's see what this does. I do tend to like Erik Larson books (I've read five of his books so far), so hopefully this book will be good for me.