No More Champagne

Starred review from September 28, 2015
Debut author Lough, an investment advisor, succeeds beyond any reasonable expectation in making this unique chronicle of Winston Churchill’s money problems fascinating, even for those with limited interest in financial matters. Lough traces Churchill’s spendthrift ways to his parents, Randolph and Jeanette, both from once-wealthy families contending with diminished resources by the time the two met in 1873. From a young age, the future prime minister was preoccupied with money (he would later say it was “the only thing that worries me in life”), and his family’s straitened circumstances led him and his brother to sell eggs for extra pocket money. As an adult, Churchill’s financial woes were often of his own making. To compensate, he became a prolific author, considering no commission too small or unimportant: in 1937, he was hired to write short summaries of four battles illustrated on jigsaw puzzles. Lough’s detailed, but fast-moving, narrative succeeds in making one of British history’s most prominent men more relatable; as Lough notes, “it is salutary to discover that one of the most successful political figures of the 20th century ran up huge personal debts, gambled heavily, lost large amounts on the stock exchange, avoided tax with great success, and paid his bills reluctantly.” Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency (U.K.).