The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

　　月色皎潔，砲聲轟隆，倫敦重要官員官邸聚集的唐寧街也難以倖免，因此，邱吉爾和他的隨從撤退到了狄切利莊園，以躲避德軍轟炸……

　　在邱吉爾擔任首相的第一天，希特勒即出兵入荷蘭及比利時，此時，波蘭和捷克斯洛伐克已被攻陷，距敦克爾克大撤退也不過兩週之遙。再接下來的一年內，希特勒將發動一連串的炸彈攻勢，而是否將危及45,000名英國人的性命，則有賴邱吉爾能否凝聚全國民心，並說服羅斯福總統出兵支援，直至戰爭終結。

　　在此役中，邱吉爾不僅面臨國家被邊緣化的危機，還有在契克斯閣內的各種紛擾：認為戰時策略過於保守的小女兒、因婚姻失和所苦的兒子，以及和美國使者有段不倫戀情的媳婦。根據第一手日記，原始文件、曾經封存、有些直到近期才發布的秘密報導以及邱吉爾家庭的切身經驗，作者為大家描繪出倫敦最黑暗的時刻。

　　與現今失能的政府相比，邱吉爾在面對最危急的時刻，仍以他的勇氣、毅力及雄辯才能使國家上下一心、家庭緊密不離析。(文/博客來編譯)

　　The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers a fresh and compelling portrait of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz

　　NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2020 BY The Washington Post • HuffPost • The Seattle Times • Lit Hub • The Week • PopSugar

　　On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf 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 his 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: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.
 
　　The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.

Erik Larson is the author of five national bestsellers: Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, The Devil in the White City, and Isaac’s Storm, which have collectively sold more than nine million copies. His books have been published in nearly twenty countries.