That Churchill Woman

The Paris Wife meets PBSs Victoria in this enthralling novel of the life and loves of one of historys most remarkable women: Winston Churchills scandalous American mother Jennie Jerome. Wealthy privileged and fiercely independent New Yorker Jennie Jerome took Victorian England by storm when she landed on its shores. As Lady Randolph Churchill she gave birth to a man who defined the twentieth century: her son Winston. But Jenniereared in the luxury of Gilded Age Newport and the Paris of the Second Empirelived an outrageously modern life all her own filled with controversy passion tragedy and triumph. When the nineteen-year-old beauty agrees to marry the son of a duke she has known only three days shes instantly swept up in a whirlwind of British politics and the breathless social climbing of the Marlborough House Set the reckless men who surround Bertie Prince of Wales. Raised to think for herself and careless of English society rules the new Lady Randolph Churchill quickly becomes a London sensation: adored by some despised by others. Artistically gifted and politically shrewd she shapes her husbands rise in Parliament and her young sons difficult passage through boyhood. But as the familys influence soars scandals explode and tragedy befalls the Churchills. Jennie is inescapably drawn to the brilliant and seductive Count Charles Kinskydiplomat skilled horse-racer deeply passionate lover. Their affair only intensifies as Randolph Churchills sanity frays and Jenniea woman whose every move on the public stage is judgedmust walk a tightrope between duty and desire. Forced to decide where her heart truly belongs Jennie risks everythingeven her sonand disrupts lives including her own on both sides of the Atlantic. Breathing new life into Jennies legacy and the glittering world over which she reigned That Churchill Woman paints a portrait of the difficultand sometimes impossiblebalance among love freedom and obligation while capturing the spirit of an unforgettable woman one who altered the course of history.Praise for That Churchill Woman The perfect confection of a novel . . . Were introduced to Jennie in all of her passion and keen intelligence and beauty. While she is surrounded by a cast of late-Victorian celebrities including Bertie Prince of Wales its always Jennie who shines and takes the center stage she was born to.Melanie Benjamin New York Times bestselling author of The Aviators Wife and The Swans of Fifth Avenue