Author:Charles Higham
Jennie Jerome was a controversial American society girl and mother of Britain's most revered statesman, Winston Churchill. A single-minded and dynamic woman she was an early feminist, advocate of Irish independence, and, above all, was notorious for her promiscuity.
Charles Higham draws from previously overlooked sources to provide much that is startlingly new about the remarkable and tempestuous life of Jennie Jerome. The book charts her luxurious New York upbringing, her eyebrow-raising entry into the British aristocracy through marriage to Lord Randolph Churchill, son of the Duke of Marlborough, her endless line of liaisons with men of vastly inferior years, and a very different sort of affair in the highest of high places - with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII (one of many kings and princes to win her affection). Passionately in love with life, expressive of her sexuality when women were supposed to hide it, beautiful and independent minded, Jennie Jerome was decades ahead of her time.
Dark Lady, like all of Charles Higham's biographies, is vivacious, sensational and revelatory. Jennie Churchill emerges as an intensely individual and passionate figure, and the book is indispensable reading for a full and proper understanding of her great son, Winston.
—— Simon Callow, actor, author and TV presenterA fascinating biography, told with panache
—— You magazineA vibrant look at the life of society beauty Jenny Jerome covering murder, espionage, love affairs and political machinations
—— Daily Express[It] possesses the rare combination of clarity, liveliness, balanced judgement, erudition without pedantry, and scholarship founded on his own research among primary sources
—— Scotland on SundayThe book is at its most compelling in conjuring a sense of place or occasion
—— GuardianA bravura performance by the Lord Macaulay of our day.
—— David Cannadine , The ObserverSchama has a masterly ability to conjure up character and vivify conflict.
—— Ben Rogers , Financial TimesPopular history at its finest.
—— Express on SundayRappaport has succeeded in capturing a frenetic, terrifying period of modern history and showing how a brutal, but human, man and his family became victims of the pent-up fury of the people he had systematically ground underfoot
—— Sunday Tribune (Ireland)Well researched ... Helen Rappenport successfully evokes the claustrophobic atmosphere within the house
—— Saturday TelegraphThe appalling end of the last Romanov and his enchanting family is well described by Helen Rappaport ... Utilising sources only recently accessible, she traces the story from abdication to slaughter, including much fascinating detail...
—— Literary ReviewRappaport exhumes the last days of the Romanovs and, relying on archival sources and neglected memoirs, tries to offer the most up-to-date account possible... Vivid...
—— Scotland on SundayEminently readable but still fastidiously researched, no compromising on scholarly or evidence-based investigation... There is a very powerful sense that you are reading the words of someone who is witnessing the sights and sounds of the place first hand, is returning to primary sources and conjuring up the atmosphere with an accomplished writer's eye. The trouble with reading any book about the Romanovs is the sure and certain knowledge of how it will end, yet despite this the book feels fresh and spell-binding ... Compelling reading
—— dovegreyreader.comUtterly absorbing, a really good read, sensitive and balanced and surely the definitive last word on the subject
—— Dr Harry Shukman, Emeritus Fellow of Modern Russian History, St Antony’s College OxfordRappaport narrates her story in an original fashion, focusing on the final two weeks inside the Ipatiev House before the murders
—— Times Literary SupplementBrilliantly shows how history is never simple but always enthralling when written with this style
—— The BooksellerExtraordinary and powerful ... Having uncovered enlightening new sources, Rappaport has produced a highly accessible account of the last 14 days in the lives of the former tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra and their children
—— Western Daily PressRiveting account of turbulence, social upheaval and murder in early 20th-century Russia, which draws on new evidence uncovered in the icy, remote city where Tsar Nicholas and his family met their bloody deaths. Juxtaposing fascinating domestic details with analysis of the international political scene, the author strips away the romance of their incarceration and the mythology surrounding their murders to reveal an extraordinary human situation and its seismic worldwide repercussions
—— Sainsbury’s MagazineRappaport precisely imagines those last few days ... As the pages turn quickly towards an end that is never in doubt, a picture emerges of a devout, loving and rather commonplace family
—— Waterstone’s Books QuarterlyThe great strength of Rappaport's book is her tight focus on the royal family's final three months in the Iaptiev House... She has told the human story, and the truly appalling tale of what man can do to man
—— Independent (Ireland)A tragic and thrilling account ... Ekaterinburg is really a twofold triumph for Helen Rappaport ... On top of the impressive level of research that Rappaport has conducted in order to produce Ekaterinburg, she also has an excellent and engaging writing style and succeeds in maintaining the tension and mood throughout ... Gritty and compelling
—— suite101.com