Dinner with Churchill is a wonderfully easy book to read. It is based on historical fact although no records of what took place were ever made. Nonetheless, it is an important part of our heritage and helps to explain some of what was going on at the time. The reader is introduced to a young woman, Lucy Armitage, who is just starting out on a secretarial career and who fate brings into the very heart of government at a critical time. Lucy is a likeable, easy to get to know character, and it is through Lucy's own learning experience that we travel this road of discovery. It is a fictional but realistic account of a meeting between Churchill and Chamberlain - internal battles and external wars. If you are interested in the men behind the names, then this could definitely be the book for you.
By one of the UK's most prolific writers - Lucy Armitage is an innocent baker's daughter from England's majestic Lake District. However the onset of World War II changes her life. She goes to London to attend secretarial college, and then by an extraordinary stroke of fate is conscripted into Winston Churchill's secretarial team. Churchill is back in cabinet as First Lord of the Admiralty after ten years ‘in the wilderness’, excluded from government. As the war progresses Lucy is introduced into his 'secret circle' and becomes familiar with his phenomenal mind and eccentric habits. However, she is courted by Daniel, an attractive American diplomat, who it transpires is spying for Russia. Lucy is persuaded by MI5 to encourage the liaison so that she can feed Daniel with misleading information about Churchill’s plans for the war effort. She is torn between her loyalty to him and loyalty to her country. The story reaches its climax at a famous dinner party, in which the Churchills invite Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his wife to dinner at The Admiralty - an event which creates ripples throughout the Government. The two men have been arch enemies for years over the appeasement issue, and this is the first time the four have ever dined socially together. Lucy is witness to the fierce discussions that take place, and the long evening ends with an inspiring oratory from Churchill concerning the way the world must deal with tyrants. She now has the task of confiding to her lover a carefully tailored report of the dinner’s proceedings. However she then learns traumatically that Daniel has been arrested, and is being deported on charges of treason. The lovers take a sad farewell, knowing they will probably never meet again. Churchill is about to become Prime Minister, and Lucy returns to her work, taking dictation for his famous ‘blood sweat, toil and tears’ speech. There is a twist in her and Daniel’s tale, which only comes in the final chapter.
I thought it was very well written and the characters fitted in well with the story.
I enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was very well written and the characters fitted in well with the story. I did, however, think that the section relating to the dinner was too lengthy and in-depth and that the book ended too abruptly.... Read Full Review
