Hough, Richard (Churchill, Sir Winston; Churchill, Lady Clementine)

Winston & Clementine: The Triumphs & Tragedies of the Churchills

ISBN: 9780553070958
New York, NY, USA: Bantam Books, 1990. First Edition. Hardcover. “On a damp March evening in London, in 1908, Clementine Hozier returns home, tired and hungry after a hard day’s work. She has been giving French lessons at two shillings and six pence (roughly fifty cents) an hour. Clementine lives with her mother at a small terrace house, 51 Abingdon Villas, off Kensington High Street, and money is always desperately short. Because she and her mother descend from one of the oldest and most distinguished Scottish families, the Ogilvys of Airlie, there is never a shortage of invitations to balls and dinners. But social life is expensive to maintain: gowns, white kids gloves, shoes, hairdressing, cab fares if you have no carriage, and so on. The beautiful, distinguished twenty-three-year-old Clementine is much in demand, but cannot often go out. / Her mother greets her at the door. “There is a message from Aunt Mary, dear. Just arrived. Can you come to dinner, please. One of her guests has fallen out, and that leaves her with thirteen.” / “Mama, I’m so tired. I really don’t want to go. I’ve no gown ready and no clean gloves.” / Inside the little parlor—so different from the great hall at Cortachy Castle, the ancestral home—Blanche Hozier takes a firm stand. Aunt Mary, Lady St. Helier, and aunt to Blanche by marriage, is a veritable empress of London social life who knows, and organizes, everyone. She has been singularly helpful to Clementine after her “coming out.” “You really cannot let her down,” Blanche Hozier says firmly. “Now just go upstairs and change.””--Richard Hough, pg. 1. Richard Alexander Hough (1922-1999) was a British writer and historian who specialized, primarily, in maritime history. Hough’s works include: Into a Strange Lost World (1952); The Kidnapping of Kensington (1958); Fleet That Had to Die (1958); The Great War at Sea: 1914-1918 (1983); and The Longest Battle (1986) just to name a few. Offered today is the 1990 biography, rendered in excruciating detail, Winston & Clementine: The Triumphs & Tragedies of the Churchills. Hough’s book outlines Winston Churchill, Britain's great statesman, and Clementine, his wife, as they went together through many crises to command center stage in their country's finest hour during World War II. This double biography tells the story of this celebrated couple whose marriage endured, without scandal, for 57 years, until Churchill's death in 1965. Their intense relationship would make tabloid headlines, but the public didn't see the conflicts and clashes of two strong-willed, stubborn individuals whose love for each other withstood the tests of war and family tragedy -- and whose fierce differences were essential to their triumph. From the collection of Barbara (1935-2023) & Irving (1933-2018) Nusbaum - world travelers, connoisseurs, eminent collectors of art & books, and the dearly beloved parents of our esteemed founder, Arthur S. Nusbaum. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket. First edition though not explicated as such at copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. Book in very fine condition with only minor wear to fine edges. Dust jacket in very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, and minimal smudging/scratching to front and back covers. An extra handling fee of $1.50 will be added for shipping due to the size and weight of this item. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #8785]

Price: $50.00