I try to read everything I can on Winston Churchill and really enjoyed starting to branch out into his family when I read CHURCHILL & SON by Josh Ireland and THE CHURCHILL SISTERS by Rachel Trethewey, This one, Mary's wartime diaries, had its moments, but I was overall a little disappointed with it. I think I was hoping for something more introspective and descriptive. Something that provided plenty of details about what was going on at the time, giving a really sense of what it was like to live in London or the various places Mary lives during the war, what she experiences, the training she goes thru in the army, etc. But this is more the chatty, casual diary of a young woman- mentions of the parties she goes to, the movies she sees with friends and family, dinners she attends with family members, and while the names may be big names and she occasionally gives us her brief impressions of someone like FDR, there's more of a focus on trying to work on self improvement (without us knowing what she doesn't like about herself), or wishing she knew more about love and the world. Lots of thoughts about the men she falls in love with or thinks she falls in love with, but in a brief and casual way, then on to something else. She might say she'll "never forget" something, but never gives us the descriptions to imagine what she's really talking about.

She's discreet, never mentioning what she would have heard at dinners or other private meetings in case the diary falls in to someone else's hands (or gets forgotten on a train, which happens once), but also never tells us reactions to things happening in the world- up to and including basically shrugging when FDR and Hitler die. Her short, almost telegraphic style of writing give you the impression of a constant whirlwind of activity, but while she frequently mentions depression or lowness of spirits, likewise happiness and parties, its hard to feel like you are getting to know the person who's diary you are reading. You do, on the other hand, get the constant love and near worship for her parents, especially Winston, coming through the pages, and I rather hope Winston and Clementine knew how very much Mary loved and idolized them.

Maybe interesting as a supplement to biographies and other writings, but I found on its own it dragged and I was more than ready to be done with this far before it was done. I listened to the audio version and liked the narrators. Getting a synopsis of what was happening at the beginning of the year threw me at first, but turned out to be helpful since Mary never actually talks about any of the things the synopsis does, so it helps anchor us in the history we might already know. Also occasionally included sound clips of Winston's speeches when Mary mentions she was listening to them in person or on the radio, which I liked.

I received this ALC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I collect everything on the Churchills, so this is a natural for me. Seeing it on #Netgalley, I had to have it. I will be buying the print book, but this review is based on the audio in which the editor (and reader of the text connecting sections of the diary) is Mary’s elder daughter, Emma.

Winston and Clementine Churchill suffered the sort of loss all parents dread. Going away and leaving the children with a nanny only to be called home to a dying child. Their fourth child, Marigold, died, soon after her parents returned home. A year later, Mary was born. Unlike the older children, Mary was cared for by a distant relative who had trained as a Norland Nanny. Winston and Clementine were very involved children for their class and day. Winston had been so neglected by his own father that he destroyed his son Randolph by spoiling him and never correcting his bad behavior. The three (surviving) older children all had difficulties with relationships and with alcoholism. Mary, however, was married for life to one man, had five healthy children, many grandchildren (one of whom was a bridesmaid Princess Diana–a very distant relative). Winston and Clementine both gave of their time and love to all of their children, but Mary having had a very stable and well-regulated childhood, turned out the healthiest. [In this the Churchills and the Roosevelts were so much alike–disastrous marriages for the children, etc., only it was FDR’s mother who spoiled them. FDR and Eleanor lost a baby son. Their 5 children had around 14 marriages between them].

The Story


When the Diary starts, Mary is about to be 18, World War II is starting and Winston is not yet Prime Minister. Mary is in the last days of school–still a fairly rare thing for a girl of her class (Clementine had gone to school though). The Churchills included their children in the luncheons and dinners they gave, so their children were very well versed in public affairs, the arts, and literature from this exposure alone. Randolph only was indulged and allowed to argue and debate with guests even if it sent his mother from the table in anger and disgust. The girls, were to make polite conversation. So Mary often had a ring-side seat to some of the greatest moments in 20th Century history and met most of the Allied war leaders including Roosevelt. (She found FDR not as brilliant as her father and found FDR Jr, very handsome but a bit tedious; She admired Eleanor).

Her diary has the usual confidences about young men, about what she sees as her personal failings and, funnily enough some Bridget Jones-ish moments about her weight! She confides her thoughts on her siblings (she finds she can no longer lover or like her brother), her sister-in-law Pamela (whom she often calls “Spam) [and who would always be charitably described in books and memoirs as a “courtesan”] and on finding her eldest sister, Diana, a bit difficult (she was 13 years older). It is her sister Her cousin, Clarissa (later to be the 2nd Mrs. Anthony Eden–click for my post on her), who ran with a very artsy crowd, worked at Vogue and skipped any military service, she found hard going (as did I when I read her memoir). Her sister Sarah, the actress, and her mother, Clementine, she mostly got on well with and enjoyed spending time with each of them She and Sarah shared the duties of ADC to her father on his long trips to the wartime conferences (a role the Winston must surely have wished Randolph to have been capable of undertaking). But, it is her father whom she openly idolizes, adores, cherishes. He is almost a religion to her. She is so grateful (which is a huge sign of maturity I think) when he takes time out to speak to her. But, Mary, too falls afoul of “Papa” when she criticizes the sainted son, Randolph. She bitterly and quite rightly resents this.

One fun note–her thoughts on the movie Mrs. Miniver were like mine. It was a lovely film, but the family didn’t seem very British or middle class! I’ve always thought Walter Pidgeon was too “American”–Leslie Howard would have been a better choice to me.

My Thoughts
Mary shows herself to be a a little (and understandably) priggish, very upper-class, and yet also very sincere. Her religious faith, her sense of duty, and her devotion to family and country are very typical of her time. She would go on to raise a Member of Parliament who became a Cabinet Minister (oldest son, Nicholas) and was wife of an MP & Cabinet Minister who also severed as the UK’s Ambassador to France and as the man who handed Rhodesia over to become Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Her home “training” stood her in good stead to be the wife of a successful politician–which it did, especially when Churchill suffered his stroke after the war–but that’s in a different book!

I wasn’t sure what I would be listening to when I started this book, but in the end I found it to be much, much more interesting than I had imagined. It’s too bad that Mary didn’t go on to try for Parliament. I think she’d have given Mrs. Thatcher some serious competition even without a University degree.