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58 pages 1 hour read

Marie Benedict

Lady Clementine

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Essay Topics

1.

Clementine Churchill both belongs to the aristocracy and yet functions uneasily within it. What are the economic, political, and/or social dynamics of the aristocracy in the novel? How is the aristocracy portrayed?

2.

Gender dynamics play an important role in Clementine’s life. In what ways do Clementine and the other female characters conform to gender dynamics or challenge them? What is the wider significance of gendered roles and expectations in the novel?

3.

How are issues of class depicted in the novel? In what ways are Clementine and her situation similar to that of the working-class men and women she meets in the novel? What are the differences?

4.

What is the relationship between the personal and the political in the novel? How do Clementine’s experiences in the domestic realm inform her political actions, and vice versa?

5.

Clementine’s views on infidelity shift notably throughout the novel—how does this shift reflect her character and position in her marriage?

6.

Although Terence implies he is gay, he speaks in code, and only Clementine voices the possibility. Research the criminalization of being gay in England at the time. How does this historical context inform Terence’s characterization?

7.

Both of the world wars feature in the novel, yet the details of the wars themselves and the Holocaust in the 1930s and 1940s are sparse. How do these historical contexts interact with Clementine’s life story and the fictionalized descriptions of her home life?

8.

England’s colonialism and its effects occasionally appear in the background of the novel, from descriptions of turmoil in Egypt and Ireland to the question of home rule in India. How does this affect the depiction of Winston Churchill and Clementine in the novel? Do you agree with how the British Empire is represented? Why or why not?

9.

Winston and Clementine often mention their future role in history. How is history depicted in the novel? What is its significance for both Winston and Clementine?

10.

As historical fiction, Lady Clementine unites both historical fact with dramatization and fictionalized dialogue and emotions. What is the relationship between fact and fiction in the novel? In what ways, if any, does fiction illuminate history?

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