“Lady Clementine” - Marie Benedict

 🧳 I’m glad I read this novel about a figure often portrayed as silent and steadfast beside her larger than life husband. It’s always interesting to get down to real details. Here, we see Lady Clementine similar to how she fleetingly appears in the Maggie Hope novels as well as in Benedict’s own “The Mitford Affair”; a driving force beside her staunch husband.

🧳 Clementine is often the voice of forbearance who curbs some of Winston’s impetuousness. Tracing Churchill’s tumultuous political career from Clementine’s more measured perspective, was quite the change of pace as we are almost always only presented Churchill’s public facing persona.

🧳 I felt this rendering of Clementine was rather one-dimensional as compared to some of Benedict’s other novels. For example, I would have liked to know if Clementine succeeded in convincing Winston to stick to the plan when he enlisted her to repair his reputation after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. I assume, yes, but I would have liked more detail here about her efforts to rehabilitate Winston’s image while Winston was fighting at the front when she was outside his shadow.

🧳 Clementine’s childhood was interesting: her mother was distant and bohemian. Clementine was driven and as ambitious as early 19th century society allowed. Her lack of maternal interest in her children worries her often. She loves them, but she prefers to hand off childcare to nanny in order to assist Winston in matters of state.

🧳 Winston’s imperialist tendencies are on full display post-WWI at the Cairo Conference debates on freedom from the French for Lebanon and Syria, on whether the English would continue to support Palestine, and on the creation of a Jewish homeland. Winston never took assassination plots seriously and he never cared how reviled the Churchills were amongst the peoples seeking independence. We read Clementine’s observations but not necessarily her thoughts that her husband through his policies was globally hated.

🧳 I enjoyed Clementine’s observations of the relationship between Winston and FDR. She appears to have read FDR correctly from the beginning unlike Winston who seemed to idolize him at first, and was stupefied when FDR later boxed him out with Stalin.

🧳 Clem disagreed with Winston on many issues when left the Liberals and returned to the Conservative party.

🧳 Clementine has to super-manage Winston’s daily routine when he’s not working int he hub of politics or he’s liable to be intemperate. She literally has to coddle him (see e.g. toothbrush rotation, bath schedule).

🧳 The Canadian tycoon (he of the shady newspaper) from “Elegy for Eddie” rates a mention here as one of Winston’s rather unsavory cronies during the Inter-War years.

🧳 Clem manages Winston’s brutish behavior toward staff - recognizing that war efforts depend on unity and cohesiveness within No. 10 - a fact of which Winston seems wholly unaware. This echoes the depiction in the Maggie Hope books.

🧳 I love Clementine’s role of bringing women into the war efforts and her canny use of both data and personality foibles of those around her at No. 10. Her wartime efforts include safe, hygenic air raid shelters. Government officialls scoffed initially because the shelters were meant to be temporary, but as the Blitz continued month after month, reality was citizens were spendingt 10+ hours per day in shelters.