Churchill and Son

 

Churchill and Son- Josh Ireland

Penguin Group/Dutton

Release Date: March 30, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: We think we know Winston Churchill: the bulldog grimace, the ever-present cigar, the wit and wisdom that led Great Britain through the Second World War. Yet away from the House of Commons and the Cabinet War Rooms, Churchill was a loving family man who doted on his children, none more so than Randolph, his only boy and Winston's anointed heir to the Churchill legacy.

Randolph may have been born in his father's shadow, but his father, who had been neglected by his own parents, was determined to see him go far. For decades, throughout Winston's climb to greatness, father and son were inseparable--dining with Britain's elite, gossiping and swilling Champagne at high society parties, holidaying on the French Riviera, touring Prohibition-era America. Captivated by Winston's power, bravery, and charisma, Randolph worshipped his father, and Winston obsessed over his son's future. But their love was complex and combustible, complicated by money, class, and privilege, shaded with ambition, outsize expectations, resentments, and failures.

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Winston Churchill is one of those fascinating people who you are always learning something new about, and who we will always want to read more about. Look in any bookstore and you'll probably see more books about him than anyone else. I am definitely one of the people helping to fuel this industry- always eager to read the next book on this complex man. After reading Erik Larson's wonderful The Splendid and the Vile I grew curious about his family members- especially his son, Randolph.  So when Josh Ireland came out with Churchill and Son I jumped on it.

Churchill and Son describes the fascinating, emotional, and volatile relationship between Winston and Randolph.  After being neglected by his own father (probably the best thing he ever did for Winston, in my opinion) Winston was determined to have a close bond with his own son. He lavished praise and affection on the boy, encouraged him to always speak his mind, and to bow down to no-one. Randolph, in return, worshipped Winston and supported his every political stance. Randolph inherited all of Winston's good qualities: intelligence, brilliant public speaking ability, and charisma.  But Josh Ireland doesn't pull any punches or sugarcoat Randolph's or Winston's bad qualities.  Their worst qualities are also on display- temper, frequent lack of empathy, ignoring all others to focus on themselves. Winston spoiled Randolph as a child and indulged him to the point of his being uncontrollable as a youth- and Randolph never grew out of this. Hard drinking, hard gambling, frequently cruel to friends as well as enemies and never one to forget a grudge, Randolph grew up being told he was heir to the Churchill dynasty- and believed himself entitled to be handed all that and more without having to work for it.  

Ireland does a brilliant job of putting readers into the center of the Churchill family dynamics.  You sympathize with the long suffering Clementine and their daughters as they are pushed to the side and Winston focuses on Randolph.  You want to reach into the pages and shake Randolph for some of his worst episodes and while feeling pity for Winston for having this wretched son, you are also tempted to point out to him that spoiling the boy led to some of this behavior in the adult. The explosive fights between Winston and Randolph are as shocking to the reader as to those who witnessed them- even though after awhile you know exactly what is coming. I especially appreciated that Ireland doesn't focus only on specific time periods, like World War II, but covers their entire lives- paying special attention to Churchill's "wilderness years" between the wars, which I had not read much about before. 

Meticulously researched, fascinating, brilliantly and sympathetically written without pulling any punches, Churchill and Son is the behind the scenes story of Churchill family dynamics.  It's the age-old story of a man trying to make up for his own poor relationship with his father by giving his son everything. And the age-old story of a son who can never step out of the shadow of his famous father.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review