The Asquiths

Thank you Colin Clifford for your exceptional, sensitive book. I just finished reading it and I wanted more! I got so used to being in the presence of the Asquith family members and their friends, so skillfully and patiently described. Your book gave me a real taste of those times. The characters are so real, so honestly shown, with such understanding and insight. I was laughing and crying with them and sometimes was irritated by them. A very needed book, giving a balanced and compassionate view not only on the Asquiths, but on many other aspects of our history, and maybe serving as a warning... One cannot avoid certain analogies that come to mind about the management of the war exposed in the book and the same problem in our contemporary times.

"An extraordinary political family in times of triumph and catastrophe, wonderfully and painfully delineated. I was engrossed" wrote Antonia Fraser. I also was engrossed. This is a real 'What happens next?' pageturner. The mistakes now seen to have been made in the prosecution of The Great War now seem the clearest of danger signals warning of the mistakes that would be made in 'negotiating' (without including the beaten enemy in the negotiations) the Treaty of Versailles. The glimpses of the incipient genius of Winston Churchill are particularly illuminating. World War Two,the holocaust and even our current problems in Mesopotamia are present like horrors waiting in the wings as this fascinating true story is unfolded. The vivid WW1 trench warfare descriptions made me realise once more the tremendous debt that we, the living, owe to these who sacrificed everything for us.