As complex in their own way as their Mitford cousins, Winston and Clementine Churchill's daughters each had a unique relationship with their famous father. Rachel Trethewey's biography, The Churchill Sisters, tells their story.Bright, attractive and well-connected, in any other family the Churchill girls - Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary - would have shone. But they were not in another family, they were Churchills, and neither they nor anyone else could ever forget it. From their father - 'the greatest Englishman' - to their brother, golden boy Randolph, to their eccentric and exciting cousins, the Mitford Girls, they were surrounded by a clan of larger-than-life characters which often saw them overlooked. While Marigold died too young to achieve her potential, the other daughters lived lives full of passion, drama and tragedy.Diana, intense and diffident; Sarah, glamorous and stubborn; Mary, dependable yet determined - each so different but each imbued with a sense of responsibility toward each other and their country. Far from being cosseted debutantes, these women were eyewitnesses at some of the most important events in world history, at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam. Yet this is not a story set on the battlefields or in Parliament; it is an intimate saga that sheds light on the complex dynamics of family set against the backdrop of a tumultuous century.Drawing on previously unpublished family letters from the Churchill archives, The Churchill Sisters brings Winston's daughters out of the shadows and tells their remarkable stories for the first time.

IntroductionPart One: The Early Years1 Diana: The Gold Cream Kitten 2 Sarah: The Bumblebee 3 Marigold: The Duckadilly 4 Mary: The Chartwell Child 5 The Chancellor¿s Daughters 6 Diana in the Limelight 7 Sarah Takes Centre Stage 8 Sarah Follows Her Star 9 Mary Faces the Gathering Storm Part Two: The War Years 10 The Churchill Girls at War 11 Transatlantic Alliances 12 Doing Their Duty on the Home Front 13 Travels with Their Father 14 Onwards to VictoryPart Three: The Post-War Years 15 The Aftermath 16 Love and Marriage 17 Sarah Goes to Hollywood 18 Family Politics 19 Sarah: From Hollywood to Holloway 20 Surprised by Joy 21 Diana: The Good Samaritan 22 Mary: The Calm at the Centre of the Storm 23 Sarah Keeps on Dancing 24 Mary¿s Golden Age 25 Sarah and Mary Leave the Stage Acknowledgements Select Bibliography Notes Index