MARGOT AT WAR published in paperback today

Anne de Courcy’s thrilling true story of Margot Asquith, wife to the Prime Minister during World War One, MARGOT AT WAR, is out today in paperback from Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

Known for her wit, style and habit of speaking her mind, Margot Asquith transformed 10 Downing Street into a glittering social and intellectual salon. Drawing on unpublished material from personal papers and diaries, Anne de Courcy vividly recreates this extraordinary time when the Prime Minister’s residence was run like an English country house, with socialising taking precedence over politics, love letters written in the cabinet room and gossip and state secrets exchanged over the bridge table. It tells of Margot’s heartbreak as she witnessed her much older husband fall hopelessly in love with a young friend. 

The book was shortlisted for Political Book of the Year 2015 in the Paddy Power Political Book Awards.

Anne de Courcy is the author of many highly acclaimed works of biography and social history, and her bestselling THE FISHING FLEET (film rights sold at auction to Ridley Scott) was chosen as one of Lady Antonia Fraser’s best books of 2012 in The Daily Mail.

 Praise for Anne de Courcy:

‘Anne de Courcy combines the perseverance of the social historian with the panache of a novelist’ – The Sunday Times

‘Compulsively readable, and immaculately researched… popular social history at its very best’ – Mail on Sunday

Penny and De Courcy Shortlisted for Political Book Awards

Two Blake Friedmann authors are shortlisted for the Paddy Power Political Book Awards 2015. Anne de Courcy’s MARGOT AT WAR is shortlisted for the category Politcal Book of the Year, and Laurie Penny’s UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is shortlisted in the Polemic of the Year category.

The winner of the Political Book of the Year wins £10,000, and awards are also given out to other category winners. The winners will be announced on 24 January.

MARGOT AT WAR is a biography of Margot Asquith, published by Weidenfeld and Nicholson. Drawing on unpublished material from personal papers and diaries, Anne de Courcy vividly recreates this extraordinary time when the Prime Minister’s residence was run like an English country house. 

Laurie Penny’s UNSPEAKABLE THINGS was published by Bloomsbury. Smart, clear-eyed and irreverent, it is a fresh look at gender and power in the twenty-first century which asks difficult questions about dissent and desire, money and masculinity, sexual violence, menial work, mental health, queer politics and the Internet.

Anne de Courcy’s MARGOT AT WAR published yesterday

Anne de Courcy’s thrilling true story of Margot Asquith, wife to the Prime Minister during World War One, MARGOT AT WAR, was published yesterday by Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

Known for her wit, style and habit of speaking her mind, Margot  Asquith transformed 10 Downing Street into a glittering social and intellectual salon. Drawing on unpublished material from personal papers and diaries, Anne de Courcy vividly recreates this extraordinary time when the Prime Minister’s residence was run like an English country house, with socialising taking precedence over politics, love letters written in the cabinet room and gossip and state secrets exchanged over the bridge table. It tells of Margot’s heartbreak as she witnessed her much older husband fall hopelessly in love with a young friend. 

This interview with Anne ran in The Daily Telegraph last week.

Anne de Courcy is the author of many highly acclaimed works of biography and social history, and her bestselling THE FISHING FLEET (film rights sold at auction to Ridley Scott) was chosen as one of Lady Antonia Fraser’s best books of 2012 in The Daily Mail.

Praise for Anne de Courcy:

‘Anne de Courcy combines the perseverance of the social historian with the panache of a novelist’ – The Sunday Times

‘Compulsively readable, and immaculately researched… popular social history at its very best’ – Mail on Sunday