Join The Beaumont for a complimentary digital evening with writer, broadcaster and columnist Emma Soames. Celebrating the best of British writing, The Beaumont has launched a hybrid digital and in-person version of its literary series, bringing together the world’s best and brightest non-fiction writers to read from their latest work.

The series continues on with a reading of Mary Churchill's War: The Wartime Diaries of Churchill's Youngest Daughter (Two Roads) and a live Q&A with the book’s best-selling author and granddaughter of Winston Churchill, Emma Soames.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1939 seventeen-year-old Mary found herself in an extraordinary position at an extraordinary time: it was the outbreak of the Second World War and her father, Winston Churchill, had been appointed First Lord of the Admiralty; within months he would be Prime Minister.

The young Mary Churchill was uniquely placed to observe this remarkable historical moment, and her diaries -- most of which have never been published -- provide a front-row view of the great events of war, as well as exchanges and intimate moments with her father. But they also capture what it was like to be a young woman during wartime. An impulsive and spirited writer, full of coming-of-age self-consciousness and joie de vivre, Mary's diaries are untrammelled by hindsight or self-censorship or nostalgia.

From air raid sirens at 10 Downing Street to seeing action with the ATS, from cocktail parties with presidents and royals to accompanying her father on key diplomatic trips, Mary's wartime diaries are full of colour, rich in historical insight, and a charming and intimate portrait of life alongside Winston Churchill.

TIMINGS

19.15 (GMT): Reading and In-Conversation with Emma Soames, followed by a Q&A

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Emma Soames is a writer, broadcaster and columnist who has been editor of the Literary Review, Tatler, ES Magazine, the Telegraph magazine and Saga. She is the second child of Mary and Christopher Soames and is her mother’s Literary Executor, and is a granddaughter of Winston and Clementine Churchill.

The Churchill Archives Centre is located in the grounds of Churchill College, Cambridge. It was purpose-built in 1973 to house Sir Winston Churchill's Papers, and is now home to the papers of almost 700 important political, military and scientific figures from the Churchill era and after. Contemporaries of Winston Churchill sit alongside major political, military and scientific figures such as Margaret Thatcher, Ernest Bevin, John Major, Neil Kinnock, Admiral Ramsay, Field Marshal Slim, Frank Whittle and Rosalind Franklin. Situated within the grounds of Churchill College, Cambridge, itself the national and Commonwealth memorial to Sir Winston, the Archives Centre’s mission is to preserve and make available to the public the unique materials in its care.

THE BEAUMONT LITERARY SERIES

The Beaumont Hotel launched its literary series in 2018, bringing together the world's best and brightest non-fiction writers to read from their latest works. As part of the series, we showcase young writers alongside established literary names, putting a spotlight on intelligent and intriguing non-fiction stories with our overall aim being to put together a series of stimulating and engaging events.

With every hotel bedroom brimming with hard-bound books and a private dining room named after The Lotos Club in New York - one of the oldest literary clubs in the United States - The Beaumont is a fitting host for this celebration of authors and writing.