Never Surrender: A Novel of Winston Churchill

Mr. Dobbs is expert in developing a believable story while being historically accurate to the career of Winston Churchill. Dobbs brings Winston alive once again while the reader learns a great deal about Britain, and leadership, in those dark days immediately following Winston's ascension to prime minister. The description of the tragedy that unfolded at Dunkirk is outstanding and Churchill's response to it in and how he rallied a nation from the depths of despair to absolute resolve to survive is very well told. Another great read from Mr Dobbs.

Fine historical novel on the life and career of Winston Churchill. Having read most of Churchill's books I knew much of the history but through his eyes not as a viewer of a boy growing up in the ridiculous private (public) school system where he was sent as an 8 year old. The achievements and failures are covered and his firm motivation to "Never Surrender" which stood him in good stead with the British people during WW II.

Michael Dobbs yet again brings to life an icon of the 20th Century. We learn a great deal about the man, Churchill, both his passions as well as his demons. Dobbs' portrayal of the machinations of Kennedy/Halifax bring texture to a relatively brief but critical period following Churchill's ascendancy as PM and the heroic days of Dunkirk. The sidebar drama of the Chichesters adds additional color and brings out in clear fashion how monumental events engineered by national leaders impact the daily lives and struggles of an average family. Churchill, himself, comes across in all his complexity and imperfections as a man possessed with a determination and fundemental vision ironically more in tune with that of the average Englishman than that of the gentry class into which he was born. His ability to rally the British people over the heads of his political opponents is clearly set forth by Dobbs, who more than most understands the dangers of moral relativism taking hold of the debate in times of crisis.

Michael Dobbs does a superb job of breathing life into Churchill. Although we all know the outcome of the war, witnessing the events through Dobbs' creative hand makes them all the more real. Although firmly grounded in fact, Dobb's fiction takes readers into Churchill's soul in a most believeable - and suspenseful - way. The huge and complex character of Churchill is exposed warts and all but always magnificently, and the well-known events it deals with like the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk get brought vividly to life. I particularly enjoyed the contrast between the high politics centered in London and the agonies of war witnessed from the mud through the character of Donald Chichester, the ambulance auxiliary in France - two totally contrasting heroes of the book, Churchill the aging warrior, and Donald the young conscientious objector. And could Joe Kennedy, the US ambassador to Britain at that time, have been such a villain? Dobbs lays him bare. I know it's a novel, but for me it brought home the truth of warfare much more effectively than many history books I've read. I found the characters gripping, they got me thinking, and I was left wondering which bits were fact and what was the fiction - and wanting to find out more. A great read. It's about time that Dobbs is getting better US exposure. We want more!

With his incredible historical novel, Never Surrender: A Novel of Winston Churchill, Michael Dobbs plunges readers into the mind, thoughts, feelings, and actions of Winston Churchill when he was appointed Prime Minister of England in the early days of World War II. As Dobbs wisely remarks in his Acknowledgments, "Even those histories that are constructed as tightly as possible around `the facts' still leave room for the sort of speculation about motives and emotions that are such an important component in trying to understand not only what happened, but why something happened." Dobb's narration begins when we learn about the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that was sent over to France preparing for and expecting a war just like World War I, a steady, solid, stay-where-you-were war. One that was fought behind tank trenches and pillboxes they had spent months building in France. Neville Chamberlain has just resigned and three men gather together to discuss the appointment of Winston Churchill as the new Prime Minister. The three were Henry Channon, known as Mr. Chips, who was the parliamentary aide, Jack Colville, private secretary to Neville Chamberlain, and "Rab" Butler, the second-most senior Minister in the Foreign Office, who was considered a future leader. For Colville and the others, although Churchill had a vast experience of war, there was nothing to be gained either from war or from Churchill. And Colville further reminds his colleagues, "The fate of our country has been placed in the hands of the greatest political adventurer of modern times. A half-breed American whose entire life has been littered with failures for which other people paid." All agreed that they should let Winston have his day dabbling at war and when he fails, as he always has, the country will come to these three to save it. And who will replace him, perhaps Chamberlain and if not him, Halifax. While this is transpiring, Churchill meets with his long time friend and loyal supporter, Brendan Bracken, Minister of Information. As he ponders over the circumstances he now finds himself in, he mentions to Bracken that it was not success that brought him here, only the monumental failures of others. When questioned as to whom will form the War Cabinet, Churchill affirms that it will consist of some surprises, notably Messrs. Atlee and Greenwood of the Labour Party, Lord Halifax and Neville Chamberlain. To this, Bracken retorts, "you can't be serious- they're the four most bloody-minded men in the country. Two socialists with whom you've got nothing in common, the former Prime Minister, who's devoted most of his limited talents to keep you at the outer edge of the universe, and...Edward Halifax, Churchill's chief rival for the post." However, Churchill, who certainly was no fool and a very shrewd politician, defends his choices by stating that if he is to build a national government he must include such men even though he may not be able to trust their loyalty-prophet