The Asquiths - Hardcover

Clifford, Colin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719554578 ISBN 13: 9780719554575

Publisher: John Murray, 2002

Synopsis

In confident late Edwardian Britain, one family - the Asquiths - rose to the top both in politics and society. Within a few years, however, they would come to epitomize the generations shattered by World War I. This book recounts their lives as Britain descended into turmoil, with the Asquith sons fighting in the trenches as their father, the Prime Minister, struggled to direct the bloodiest war in his country's history. The emotional nature behind the urbane public persona of Asquith himself is revealed for the first time: his heartbreak at his first wife's sudden death, his painful and tortuous courtship of the extraordinary Margot Tennant, and the ups and downs of their marriage, which remained strong despite his notorious liaisons with younger women and her volatile and moody personality. Margot's remarkable role as the most intriguing - in both senses - of primeministerial wives is fully explored: her feuds with Lloyd George, her mistrust of the gutter genius Winston Churchill, and her hatred of Lord Northcliffe, the press baron who ultimately drove her husband from power in 1916.;At the heart of the story are four of the Asquith children, Raymond, the brilliant scholar and outstanding President of the Oxford Union, who died leading his men into attack on the Somme; the shy Beb, artillery officer and poet, who overcame shell shock to face the horrors of Passchendale; Oc, whom General Freyberg - himself a VC - described as the bravest man I ever knew; and their mercurial sister Violet, her father's most ardent supporter but the bane of her jealous stepmother's life.;Drawing for the first time on Margot Asquith's own journals, Asquith's letters to her, and a mass of hitherto unpublished correspondence in family and many other archives, Colin Clifford provides an engrossing picture of a remarkable political family at a time of crisis.

About this title

Review

A magnificent saga of public and private lives, politics and society, peace and war ... I was captivated from beginning to end (Charlotte Mosley)

Immensley readable ... compelling (Victoria Schofield, Financial Times)

Colin Clifford has woven their complex story together with great skill and judgment (Artemis Cooper, Daily Mail)

Full of quirky detail ... tolerant of the central figures and steeped in the forgotten atmosphere of their time, its customs and ethos, its lanquage, habits and heroes (Isabel Quigly, The Oldie)

Far more gripping than fiction (Jane Ridley, The Spectator)

An extraordinary family in times of triumph and catastrophe, wonderfully and painfully delineated. I was engrossed (Antonia Fraser)

A Forsythe Saga of real life (Sunday Telegraph)

Could hardly have been better done (Philip Ziegler, Literary Review)

An incredible account of a remarkable family at a pivotal point in 20th century history. It also paints a vivid picture of Edwardian politics and society, and the people who were at its nucleus. (This England)

Compelling saga ... expertly researched ... incisive portrait ... (This England)

From the Author

Since two of your reviewers have expressed the view that they would have liked more politics in my book, I should point out that I am presently working on a (mainly political) biography of Asquith himself which (hopefully) should provide all the material they want on the Lloyd George/Asquith relationship. So far as 'The Asquiths' itself is concerned, I would say that it is almost impossible to satisfy everybody in a book of this scope – and I would much rather that readers want more, than they think I have bored them silly with too much on a particular aspect of the subject. This book is essentially the story of the Asquith family in the first two decades of the twentieth century - with politics and the Great War providing the background. In fact, I have deliberately kept politics to the minimum necessary to understand the family's story: even so, I've had a number of comments that there was too much! Anyway, I can promise those readers who are interested in the politics of the era, that 'the best is yet to come' – so please be patient!

About this edition

• Publisher: John Murray
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0719554578
• ISBN 13: 9780719554575
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 543