15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A spaniel named Winston, September 24, 2004
Winston's War: A Novel of Conspiracy, the first novel of the Churchill series by Michael Dobbs, spans the time period from Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's return from Germany after signing the shameful Munich Agreement with Adolph Hitler, to early May 1940, when he's handed a no-confidence vote by the House of Commons and forced to resign. But, WINSTON'S WAR is less about Chamberlain than the political infighting and back stabbing that brought Winston, thought to be a loudmouthed fool by his peers in Parliament and apparently washed-up in government, back to public office after years in political limbo.
NEVER SURRENDER picks up the story on May 10, 1940, when Winston is asked by King George VI to form a new government to face the Nazi menace across the Channel, and portrays the next several weeks into early June as the British Expeditionary Force in France is forced by German panzers into a desperate position on the coast at Dunkirk, from which they, and as many French troops as possible, must be evacuated back to England via whatever boats can float.
Winston, is, of course, the hero of the series, and the fictional story, based on factual events, is portrayed from his point of view. Several major figures continue from the first to second volumes, including the King, the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James, snake-in-the-grass Joseph Kennedy, and Winston's loyal friend and political confidant, Brendan Bracken . To provide a human face to events in France, Dobbs pens the characters of Don Chichester, a conscientious objector serving with the Royal Ambulance Corps, Claude, a downed and injured French pilot that Don patches up, and a spaniel, named "Winston" by Chichester for his constant barking, that adopts the two during their retreat to the Dunkirk beach.
I was less enamored of NEVER SURRENDER than WINSTON'S WAR, though it's still a decent read. Dobbs moves back and forth between Churchill and Chichester; perhaps he should of stayed with the former for a leaner plot (since this is, after all, a saga about Winston). Churchill, plagued with feelings of deep inadequacy as he copes with defeatist ministers, intransigent generals, and a military disaster of biblical proportions, lives in the shadow of his politically disgraced and deceased father, with whose portrait he carries on imaginary conversations. Don's relationship with his own father, a stern and uncompromising Anglican vicar, has been strained ever since his mother died giving him birth. Indeed, the two are barely on speaking terms.
Dysfunctional relationships between fathers and sons is very much a theme of this book, and I got the feeling that the author tried too hard to make the point, especially after Winston's debilitating obsession with his father's memory received such scant attention in WINSTON'S WAR. And furthermore, the whole Don/Claude thing seemed inconsequential window dressing. Indeed, the ending to this sidebar was so contrived for effect that I almost pitched the book into a corner. If there had to be a subplot at all, I would rather it had revolved around, say, Bertram Ramsay, the beleaguered Vice Admiral in his subterranean tunnels under Dover Castle charged with bringing the Tommies back from Dunkirk. Or Winston the dog.
So, keeping a stiff upper lip, it's on to the third book in the series,
Churchill's Hour: A Novel of Defiance.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read, November 25, 2007
This review is from: Never Surrender: A Novel of Winston Churchill (Paperback)
Michael Dobbs yet again brings to life an icon of the 20th Century. We learn a great deal about the man, Churchill, both his passions as well as his demons. Dobbs' portrayal of the machinations of Kennedy/Halifax bring texture to a relatively brief but critical period following Churchill's ascendancy as PM and the heroic days of Dunkirk. The sidebar drama of the Chichesters adds additional color and brings out in clear fashion how monumental events engineered by national leaders impact the daily lives and struggles of an average family. Churchill, himself, comes across in all his complexity and imperfections as a man possessed with a determination and fundemental vision ironically more in tune with that of the average Englishman than that of the gentry class into which he was born. His ability to rally the British people over the heads of his political opponents is clearly set forth by Dobbs, who more than most understands the dangers of moral relativism taking hold of the debate in times of crisis.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Right Man for the Job, August 8, 2008
This review is from: Never Surrender: A Novel of Winston Churchill (Paperback)
Winston Churchill was done no favor when he was named Prime Minister in May of1940 just hours before Adolph Hitler's invasion of Belgium, Holland and France. As the world watched in horror, Hitler's army marched through those countries with surprising ease and pushed Britain's forces to the coast at Dunkirk where they seemed to be trapped like fleeing rats. Never Surrender tells the story of what turned out to be one of the most important three weeks of the twentieth century. It was during those dark days that Churchill almost single-handedly managed to keep his government from suing for peace with Hitler even when it appeared that his country would soon have no army or air force left with which to fight.
Michael Dobbs portrays a Winston Churchill who at times seems to succeed in spite of himself. Despite his bouts of depression, his drinking habits and the fact that most of his colleagues were convinced that he was already a failure, Churchill gave his countrymen the will to defy Hitler when it seemed near impossible that their resistance could ever succeed. The Winston Churchill of Never Surrender is a man filled with self-doubt, a man who still craves the approval of his long dead father, and a man who is willing to do whatever is necessary to save his beloved country. If he has to lie to his fellow ministers and staff, he will do it. If he has to ask thousands of men to sacrifice their lives in a hopeless battle to win time for others to escape Hitler's trap, he will do that. He understands, even if only a few others do, that negotiating with Adolph Hitler is the same as surrender, and he will never surrender.
But there is more to Never Surrender than Winston Churchill. Dobbs uses side stories and characters to further detail what was happening at all levels of British society during those crucial days. There are Don Chichester, a young conscientious objector and orderly with the British army in France and his Anglican vicar father who considers him to be a coward for not taking up arms against the enemy. There is Ruth Mueller, a German refugee and Hitler biographer, who has fled to England after being sickened by what has become of her own country, and who becomes an unofficial adviser to Churchill about what makes Adolph Hitler tick. There is even Joseph Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to Britain, who watches smugly, and almost hopefully, as Churchill's options become fewer and fewer, a man willing to mislead President Roosevelt despite the consequences.
Never Surrender is a suspenseful account of what one man achieved despite obstacles that would have stopped most men in their tracks. Faced with obstinate military leaders who would not follow orders, defeatist ministers who were ready to quit the fight, and self-doubts of his own, Churchill was still able to defy Hitler and to rescue more than three hundred thousand men from the beaches of Dunkirk, men who would live to fight another day. The world was lucky that Winston Churchill came along when he did. Michael Dobbs has done a remarkable job in explaining just how lucky.
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