Lady Clementine

“I almost snort with laughter at our bohemian mother, never one to follow the strictures of society, church, or family, doubting the appropriateness of her children’s behavior. She, whose own behavior has long flouted the traditions of marriage and child-rearing through multiple simultaneous affairs and long absences.”

The morning before her wedding, Clementine Churchill sneaks back into her family home, triggering her mother’s disapproval. She reflects that it is ironic that Lady Blanche Hozier calls her daughter’s actions inappropriate, considering her own breaking of social conventions. This passage also reflects the gendered norms of behavior that Clementine will have to push back against throughout the novel.

“A brilliantly colored portrait of Queen Elizabeth I peers back at me with an unflinching gaze. England’s longest reigning monarch would have never tolerated being kept waiting like this, and I feel almost as if she’s taking me to task for allowing the bishop to detract from my moment.”

As she waits for her marriage ceremony to conclude while the bishop and Winston Churchill chat, Clementine notices the portrait of Elizabeth I, the unmarried “Virgin Queen.” This portrait is an important symbol in the novel (See: Symbols & Motifs), as it invokes The Complexities of History and Gender that Clementine will repeatedly face. After noticing Elizabeth’s portrait, Clementine vows to be an equal partner in her marriage instead of playing the role of a subservient wife.

“But then I notice that all the table surfaces in the library are cluttered with miniature versions of war—metal soldiers, cannons, horses, and artillery, as if we’ve interrupted a battle—and that every chair has heaping piles of books teetering.”

Clementine’s first foray into Winston’s house reveals the hypermasculine decor, including miniatures of war, from soldiers to tanks and guns. These toys foreshadow Winston’s future as a leader of the admiralty and a war-time prime minister, while also reminding Clementine that she will now have to struggle to make her mark in a “man’s world” both domestically and politically.