Books: “The Splendid and the Vile” by Erik Larson (from 2020)

Stirring, novelistic account of the Battle of Britain and the agony England endured for days without end in 1940-1941.

Erik Larson is a vivid storyteller, filling the book with heaps of “did-you-know-that” facts about everything and everyone British and wonderful—including the cigar-chomping, brandy-swilling PM Churchill, whose erudition, resolve, and bravery saved the world; his family (four children) and his wife Clementine (pronounced “Clemen-TEEN”) whose quiet wisdom and grace make her a role model for any First Lady; and Herman Goering, the piggish Nazi art thief and architect of the airwar against London, Bristol, and Coventry. It also shines a light on other characters (the “Prof,” John Colville, Ian Fleming) you don’t hear much about in typical books of this sort.

The affair between Averell Harriman and Pamela Churchill, Winnie’s daughter-in-law, is worth the read alone. On that note, what makes this a cut above the ordinary war book is that Larsen takes the story out of the battlefield and writes engrossing sidebars on the personal (and love) lives of some of the characters, a technique that calls to mind John Hersey’s “Hiroshima.”

At 500 pages, I hesitate to recommend “The Spendid and the Vile” as a light summer read, but who the F should be going to the beach during a pandemic anyway? Available from Amazon or a library near you. (Friday)