Point Place Book Group

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Good conversation, friendly faces and great books - that's what book group is all about. We're looking forward to seeing you at our lively and engaging book discussion.

The Splendid and the Vile: a saga of Churchill, family and defiance during The Blitz

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"On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally - and willing to fight to the end. In "The Splendid and the Vile", Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless." It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it's also an intimate domestic drama set against the backdrop of Churchill's prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course, 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports - some released only recently - Larson provides a new lens on London's darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family."-- Provided by publisher.