Winston's War: A Novel of Conspiracy

This fictional work is as fine a book as any non fiction book covering the period leading up to Churchill's ascension to Prime Minister. The reader witnesses the chicanery and dangerous self serving and selfishness of Chamberlain and his cronies. It leaves the reader wondering what the world would look like today if the forces of appeasement had been victorious over Churchill. A great read that gives wonderful insight into the mess inherited by Churchill from Chamberlain and his ilk. The author has done a fine job in remaining historically accurate as he spins his enjoyable tale.

Winston's War is a longish but fascinating novel of Great Britain in the 1930s and in the first days of World War II. The author is Michael Dobbs. This novel is the introductory volume in a series on Winston Churchill's rise to power as Prime Minister during Britain's darkest hour. Dobbs weaves an intricate tale from high level political high jinks in the Parliamentary and Cabinet level world to a prostitute's life in seaside Bournemouth. Along the many pages we meet such luminaries as: Winston Churchill-The hero of the novel and Dobbs' series. Churchill is a Conservative scorned for the failure of the Gallipoli campaign in World War I. He was First Lord of the Admirality during that war being held responsible for the disaster. Churchill is disliked by the Conservative party leaders but is popular with the people. Throughout the 1930s he was a voice crying in the wilderness for Britain to reaarm. He warned of the rise of Fascism under Mussolini, the Nazis under Hitler and the Communists led by Joseph Stalin. On May 10th, 1940 he became Prime Minister on the same day the Nazis had invaded Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Appeasement was at an end in England. Churchill was prepared to lead his great democratic nation against the forces of totalitarian evil in Europe. Neville Chamberlain-He trumpeted "Peace in Our Time" after the Munich meeting with Herr Hitler in 1938. The result was the seizing of Czechoslovakia by Germany. Chamberlain hated Churchill but after the war began in Poland on September 1, 1939 he chose him to serve as Lord of the Admirality in his cabinet. Chamberlain was from the old school of polite British politics. His handling of the Norway invasion and marshalling England to fight was a total disaster. His three years as PM were a disaster in preparing Britain for the cruel war ahead. Edward Halifax- A close friend of Chamberlain and King George VI. He was an appeaser who would not have been a good PM. At the last minute it was Churchill and not Halifax who received the call to assume leadership. Guy Burgess- A Soviet spy who is a conduit of information to Winston Churchill. He is dissolute, homosexual and alcoholic. Joe Kennedy-Father of JFK. He is the American Ambassador to England and an arch appeaser. He is an adulterer who does not believe England can survive an attack by the Nazis. Mac-A barber who secretly passes government information to Burgess. He has an affair with a prostitute named Carol. Brendan Bracken-A private parliamentary secretary to Churchill who is a red headed Irishman. Bracken carries on an affair with Anna Fitzgerald. She turns out to be a Soviet spy. Joe and Susan Graham-Lovers whose lives are tragically altered by the early days of the war in Norway. Dr. Dobbs has brilliant insights into this crucial period in British and World history with a solid knowledge of the working of Parliament.

Many writers of historical fiction start with an actual event in history, and then let their imaginations run free. This fascinating book shows great imaginative restraint. Certainly there are fictional threads running through the tale, but Mr. Dobbs seriously wants to tell us about Neville Chamberlain's politics of appeasement, a policy that ended with his downfall as Prime Minister. Throughout the book we are a fly on the wall listening to the political machinations of the principle characters in the story which include, Chamberlain, Churchill, Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, Lord Halifax, the traitor Guy Burgess, and many others. It is fascinating to see Chamberlain's party struggle to hold on as their political capital steadily declined. Churchill, on the other hand starts as an outcast, one who continually cries out that peace with Hitler is an unattainable goal. His rise to First Lord of the Admiralty, and then to Prime Minister is a long fight against the odds. I am a history buff who's read books on WWII and English history, and this book taught me many things that I didn't know. Now I've said that this book fascinated me, the almost 700 pages just sped by, but I must say that this book may not be everybody's cup of tea. It definitely is not a wartime thriller. The novel is full of conversation, and as for action you'll have to settle for walks through the garden of Buckingham Palace with Lord Halifax, and King George VI (who, we find out, was so tongue tied that it was difficult for him to make clear statements).

I picked this book up in Bangkok as I was browsing through a second hand book store, and didn't expect much until I read that this was a novel by the guy who wrote House of Cards, To Play the King and The Final Cut. As mentioned above, this covers the events leading up to World War 2. It provides a great insight into the behind the scenes goings-on in parliament, the rivalries and treacheries in the run up to Winston Churchill becoming Britains war time Prime Minister. It's a superb read, really gripping from the first page through to the end. Definately recommended for anyone who has an interest in WW2, Churchill or British history. In fact, I would definately recommend this to anyone, it's easy going and difficult to put down.

Based on historical fact, WINSTON'S WAR is a solid and absorbing fictional rendition of the leadership struggle between Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill between October 1, 1938 and May 10, 1940.As the book opens, Chamberlain has returned to 10 Downing Street a public hero after the signing of the Munich Agreement between himself and Adolf Hitler which gave the latter the Sudetenland in return for "peace in our time". Meanwhile, relegated to the periphery of British politics and virtually an outcast, Churchill obstinately lashes out against appeasement and loudly proclaims the necessity for total war to save democracy from the depredations of the Nazis. What subsequently follows is history: the German subjugation of the rest of Czechoslovakia and the invasion of Poland, the German-Soviet non-aggression pact, the Phony War, the Soviet invasion of Finland, the British military's Norwegian fiasco, and the crisis in His Majasty's government in May 1940 that ultimately elevated Winston to the premiership.The cast of characters in this sweeping story by Michael Dobbs of political maneuvering, skullduggery, and backstabbing is an historical Who's Who of the times: the ailing, haughty, and pacifist Chamberlain, who personifies England's bitter memories of the Great War and the popular concept of "never again"; the ambitious and self-absorbed Churchill, whose pugnacity sometimes clouds prudence; the defeatist, philandering, and anti-Semitic U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Joseph P. Kennedy; the alcoholic, disillusioned and psychologically tortured idealist, Guy Burgess (of Burgess, Philby, and Maclean of Cold War infamy); the stuttering King George VI, who whines that the German invasion of Poland interrupted his grouse hunting; and the Machiavellian newspaper mogul, William "Max" Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook.It's in the minor details with which Dobbs fleshes out the story of Chamberlain's fall and the rise of his nemesis, Churchill, to an epic 685 paper-backed pages (UK HarperCollins edition). And it's the length of WINSTON'S WAR that is, perhaps, a minor flaw. Some of the subplots seemed unnecessary, and should have been severely cropped by a ruthless editor: the love affair between the crippled WWI survivor "Mac" McFadden, barber to the politically great and one of Guy's information sources, and Carol, a housemaid and part-time prostitute; and between Bournemouth postmistress Sue Graham and Army Sergeant Jerry White - though the experiences of the latter did usefully tie the Norway debacle into the storyline on a personal level. Slightly more relevant, but still mildly tedious, was the dysfunctional relationship between Brendan Bracken, Churchill's closest confidant, and Kennedy's niece, Anna Fitzgerald. Perhaps Dobbs perceived a need to include Carol, Sue and Anna to make it less of a Guy Read.Chamberlain was toppled not because he sought to appease Hitler and avert a cataclysm, but because he didn't have the mettle to wa