Sonia Purnell – Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction, intrigue and power
22nd October @ 12:00 – 13:00
Born into an impoverished aristocratic family, and raised on the family’s Minterne estate near Dorchester, Pamela Churchill Harriman became Winston Churchill’s daughter-in-law and trusted confidante, and American ambassador to Paris under Bill Clinton, one of the most influential women in twentieth century politics, dismissed by many as the greatest courtesan of the age. Bestselling author Sonia Purnell reclaims Pamela’s legacy and inserts her back into her rightful place in history. Full of sex, intrigue, scandal, glamour and some of the biggest names in the second half of the twentieth century (from Hitler to JFK to Prince Aly Khan, Jackie Onassis and Elie de Rothschild), this is a brilliant record of the power that women could – and couldn’t – wield.
Sonia Purnell is a biographer and journalist who has written for the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, and the Sunday Times. Her biography of Virginia Hall, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy, won the Plutarch Award for Best Biography and was a New York Times bestseller. Her book First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill was a book of the year in the Daily Telegraph, the Independent and shortlisted for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography. Her first book, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition, was longlisted for the Orwell prize.
Sonia Purnell will be in conversation with Allan Mallinson.
Tickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
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