Never Surrender
A Novel of Winston Churchill
-
-
4.6 • 10개의 평가
-
-
- US$16.99
출판사 설명
From Michael Dobbs, author of the book that inspired the smash hit Netflix series House of Cards, Never Surrender finds newly-elected Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a personal confrontation with Adolf Hitler.
The battle begins on Friday, May 10, 1940, when Hitler launches a devastating attack that within days will overrun France, Holland and Belgium and bring Britain to its knees at Dunkirk. Never Surrender examines Churchill’s courage and defiance and his ability to lead a nation during three of the most crucial weeks in its history. Without the physical forces necessary to stave off German attack, Churchill uses the force of words to stand in Hitler’s way, to show that no accords will be made.
Dobbs is at his best in Never Surrender, a novel about the remarkable courage and defiance needed to save a nation at risk.
Praise for Michael Dobbs, bestselling author of House of Cards, the book that inspired the Netflix series:
“Dobbs is an author who can bring historical happenings to life.” —The Times
“Dobbs has done a brilliant job in evoking the drama and despair of Britain hovering on the edge of the abyss.” —Sunday Express
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Veteran British novelist Dobbs (Winston's War), who served as an adviser under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, here follows Winston Churchill through the chaotic Dunkirk days and deeper into WWII, smartly relying on auxiliary plotlines to add detail to the larger-than-life Churchill saga. Among the secondaries, the German emigre historian Ruth Mueller is a Hitler biographer and detractor who plays Churchill's moral compass and confidante. Ironically, Ruth draws the personal parallels between Churchill and his nemesis Hitler. The CBS radio broadcasts of the blunt William L. Shirer, who assesses both men, air from wartime Berlin. Further off, Donald Chichester, a young British orderly in France, lives down his father's stinging rebuke over his unwillingness to fight with arms, while closer in, U.S. Ambassador Joseph Kennedy emerges as an opportunistic, backstabbing cad who self-destructs by the novel's end. To Dobbs' credit, Churchill's character flaws, particularly his drinking and fits of depression, are portrayed alongside his heroics, climaxed by his rousing "never surrender" speech subsequent to the Dunkirk evacuation. Dobbs' infuses dramatic tension, inventive plots, and heady pacing in the narration of a British icon's noblest hours.
사용자 리뷰
So-so...
...novel of Churchill’s early struggles after his return to power is most evocative in the set piece account of the retreat across northern France that ended at Dunkirk, as experienced by a conchie medic and a downed French pilot. Less convincing is Churchill’s inner dialogue with his father (although inspired by a late-in-life Churchill essay). And while Dobbs captures Joseph Kennedy’s isolationism and defeatism, he mischaracterizes American ambassador’s motivations — far from being pro-fascist, Kennedy was an ardent democrat. Still, a solid read — albeit after a slow start — that is most successful when showing through its fictional characters how the British people haltingly came to grips with the monstrosity they faced.