I belong to a book club at The Canopy in The Woodlands. This beautiful facility is located at Memorial Hermann, and is devoted to the education and support of cancer survivors. I think most of us in the group have or have had breast cancer, but it doesn’t seem to matter what type of cancer. It’s just a great group of ladies who like to talk about books.
I joined to help nudge me to read more. I recently heard that the prisoners of Alcatraz read more books in one year than most people read in a lifetime. I guess they have a lot of time on their hands, but I also imagine their brains were much sharper as a result.
Anyway, this month’s book was Lady Clementine. It’s historic fiction based on the story of Winston Churchill’s wife. I wrote a review and sent it to my book club leader, because Tim and I were on vacation. Here’s what I sent her.
On our trip out of town, I read the first chapter to my husband while he drove. He liked it so much we decided to read the whole book together. It was such a captivating book, from the very beginning. Unlike many books, it didn’t take several chapters to get into it. We sat by lakes in Colorado and Utah, under the mountains, by a gorge, in lovely cafés, and everywhere in between. Every chance we got we pulled out the book and read a chapter or two aloud to each other.
We both enjoyed engaging with the stories from Winston and Clemmie’s life together. Their “Meet-Cute” was especially fun and intriguing. From that first moment we wondered which parts of the book were true and which parts were fiction. Either way, it seems the author captured their personalities and spirits rather astutely, from the other accounts we have read or movies we have seen of the Churchills. They seemed to be made for each other, in their pursuit of the greater good, and Winston’s political career.
It was fun reading it together as he knows a lot about history and we could bounce ideas off each other. Also, when we forgot who someone was (as there were a lot of names to remember), we could ask. Sometimes we had to go back and look. He laughed with me, shared his disappointment as well as upset when bad things happened, and we both enjoyed seeing the more complex yet intimate relational side of the Churchills. Watching her matriculate his change of political views, when they aligned and misaligned, was interesting as well. I thought the whole Terrence episode was interesting. We differed on what we thought would happen. An emotional affair can be just as devastating as a sexual one, so it seems this took some time for her to work through as well. In the end, she stayed true to her Pug (loved their pet names).
I didn’t know about all the motherly concerns Clementine had for her children, or the problems they had with their grown children, or that they had lost a child at such a young age. It helped me to witness her humanity. I could sort of relate to Clementine, as I pursued my degree and career while raising my children. It was always a mind battle between taking care of the kids and doing what I wanted/needed to do to better myself (so that I could help others). I related to her sense of urgency in fulfilling a bigger purpose in life. I could also relate to her feelings of inadequacy as a mother, especially now that our kids are grown and I look back on our child-rearing days.
I doubt there is a mother out there who doesn’t look back and think of ways she could have (should have?) done things differently. None of us are perfect, but perhaps some of us really did put priorities in other places. I could not relate to her leaving her kids for months at a time, however. I can’t imagine what that must have been like. I had a hard enough time dropping them off at day care each day! I also could not relate to losing a child. That tragedy would be hard to overcome.
Her strength as a woman, wife of a very strong political figure, and basic human aspirations made for a great story. Watching how they handled not one, but two, wars was fascinating. I did a little weary of the technical side of the war(s), but it was interesting to read all the different aspects of the war that I was not previously aware of. We learned more about the British view of the war, as well as their view of the American side. I would read other books by this author, and in fact just read a Quora post about Hedy Lamarr, and it intrigued me to consider reading more about her.
I asked my husband what he thought of the book, especially since it had a strong female protagonist. He enjoyed the book. Tim truly appreciates it when a woman is revered, and is given the ability to show her true self. I agreed with him on that.
Oh, and how I wish I knew how to pronounce Clem-en-TEEN earlier in the book. 🙄🙄
We give it an 8.5 rating.
Here’s the group’s review.
Eleven of us gathered yesterday, June 14th to discuss Lady ClemenTEEN by Marie Benedict. It was an interesting read because some of us had immense respect for her and her accomplishments and some of us had zero respect for her especially as a mother. It was heroic how “Pug and Cat” lead the British people during such dire times during WW2. We all agreed that without their courage and patriotism the Brits probably would have lost the war. We discussed how both of them had such terrible mothers and how that reflected their lives and marriage. We rated the book 7.3.
À la prochaine…hasta la próxima vez…until next time!