Best-selling author Erik Larson to discuss 'The Splendid and The Vile' at The Music Hall

Editor's Note: Best-selling author Erik Larson will appear in person in the Writers on a New England Stage series at The Music Hall with New Hampshire Public Radio on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. to discuss his book, "The Splendid and The Vile," which is just out in paperback. This event was rescheduled from its original March 2020 date. This is an interview with Larson about the book to preview the originally scheduled appearance.

“It was only when I moved to Manhattan a few years ago that I came to understand, with sudden clarity, how different the experience of September 11, 2001, had been for New Yorkers than for those of us who watched the nightmare unfold at a distance. This was their home city under attack,” Erik Larson writes in the opening note of his new book, "The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz."

Larson explains that this was when he started thinking about London and the German aerial assault of 1940-41. “How did anybody endure 57 consecutive nights of bombing and the sense of violation when your city is attacked?” he said. “At first I thought I would write about a typical family during the blitz. Instead, I decided to write about Winston Churchill ... his family and the people surrounding him.”

Larson notes that the genesis for the book did not come out of a fascination with Churchill. “The underlying story is not about World War II,” he said. “With so much written about Churchill, I wanted to look at the story through a fresh lens. I made a strategic decision not to read everything written about Churchill or to see all the movies. I read enough to get a broad understanding of the topic but my focus was on doing primary research.”

Now in his eighth book, Larson always relies heavily on archival materials. “I made several trips and spent many happy hours in London, Oxford and Cambridge reviewing old letters and documents,” he said. “I also spent time exploring archives in the U.S. Library of Congress where I found some amazing material. The book contains a lot of new material not found anywhere else ... I worked on the book for five years from conception to completion.”

"The Splendid and the Vile" is not a historical novel. It is history that reads like a novel filled with suspense, descriptive detail and characters that come alive on the page with all their complexity and conflicts. The dialogue is all factual and accurate, culled from diaries, books and archival material. Dramatic scenes are recreated with descriptions of the weather, what people wore, what they ate, and what they witnessed. Larson takes us to the air raid shelters where Londoners huddled night after night as the bombs fell on their city. We feel the darkness of the blackout and the eerie silence following an attack. We get a glimpse of everyday life as people struggled to "stay calm and carry on."

One of the most valuable sources for his research was the diary of Mary Churchill, the youngest daughter of Winston and Clementine Churchill. Larson was given permission to read and excerpt the diary from her daughter, Emma Soames. Now held in the Churchill Archives Center in Cambridge, England, the diary has previously been seen by only one scholar. Mary was 17 years old when the book begins in May 1940, Churchill’s first year as Prime Minister. What emerges is a vivid portrait of Churchill’s family and the people who surrounded them. Through her eyes, we feel her concern for her father who made frequent trips by air to France. We see her frustration at not being able take a bigger role in the war effort. But we also see the lighter moments—parties with handsome Royal Air Force pilots, romantic "crushes" and debutante balls. “Mary was, hands down, my favorite character,” Larson said.

The diary and papers of John Colville, Churchills’ private secretary, also yielded a trove of new information. Colville’s book, "Fringes of Power," provides an insider’s view of what went on at 10 Downing Street. “Colville claimed that he left out the ‘trivialities’ in his book,” Larson said. “Found in his personal diaries, those trivialities provide some of the most interesting material.” For example, Winston loved his cat, Nelson, and would often carry him about. And, when a bomb fell on Number 10 Downing Street, he rushed back in to rescue Nelson. Colville describes scenes he had never witnessed before; “Churchill would wander the halls wearing a red dressing gown, a helmet, and slippers with pom-poms. He was also given to wearing his sky-blue ‘siren suit,’ a one-piece outfit of his own design that could be pulled on at a moment’s notice.”

We asked Larson what surprised him most about Churchill. “He was a lot of fun,” Larsen said. “He loved to sing and dance to martial music. He loved war and would often go up on the roof to watch the bombing, but he also understood the toll that war took.” Larson said. “He had a great deal of empathy and he wasn’t afraid to show it.”

We also see Churchill as a charismatic leader and a deft strategist. Larson recounts the interplay between Churchill and President Roosevelt as the Prime Minister maneuvers to gain support for the war effort. We learn about the critical role played by seemingly minor characters as the pivotal year unfolds.

Interspersed throughout the book are short chapters researched from the German perspective, particularly Goring and Goebbels. “The Germans knew their narrative; the British did not,” Larson noted. “It makes for narrative suspense.”

"The Splendid and the Vile" also provides important lessons in leadership. When someone remarked that Winston’s speeches give people courage, the Prime Minister responded, “I disagree. I was able to focus theirs.”

Go & Do

What: Best-selling Erik Larson appears in person in The Music Hall's Writers On A New England Stage series to discuss "The Splendid and The Vile"

When: 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 16

Where: The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth

Tickets: $33,75 for one seat and one book voucher for a paperback copy of "The Splendid and The Vile." There is an option to buy two seats and one book voucher.

More info: Per the request of the author, all staff and ticket buyers are required to be vaccinated and wear face coverings while in the building and not eating or drinking, a statement on The Music Hall website says. Proof of negative COVID test will not be accepted for this show. As of publication, there is an indoor mask mandate for the city of Portsmouth. Visit themusichall.org for more information and to purchase tickets.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Erik Larson to discuss 'The Splendid and The Vile' at The Music Hall