Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink Audiobook

“McCarten's pulse-pounding narrative transports the reader to those springtime weeks in 1940 when the fate of the world rested on the shoulders of Winston Churchill. A true story thrillingly told. Thoroughly researched and compulsively readable.”—Michael F. Bishop, Executive Director of the International Churchill Society

From the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter of The Theory of Everything comes a revelatory look at the period immediately following Winston Churchill’s ascendancy to Prime Minister

“He was speaking to the nation, the world, and indeed to history....”

May, 1940. Britain is at war. The horrors of blitzkrieg have seen one western European democracy after another fall in rapid succession to Nazi boot and shell. Invasion seems mere hours away.

Just days after becoming Prime Minister, Winston Churchill must deal with this horror—as well as a skeptical King, a party plotting against him, and an unprepared public. Pen in hand and typist-secretary at the ready, how could he change the mood and shore up the will of a nervous people?

In this gripping day-by-day, often hour-by-hour account of how an often uncertain Churchill turned Britain around, the celebrated Bafta-winning writer Anthony McCarten exposes sides of the great man never seen before. He reveals how he practiced and re-wrote his key speeches, from ‘Blood, toil, tears and sweat’ to ‘We shall fight on the beaches’; his consideration of a peace treaty with Nazi Germany, and his underappreciated role in the Dunkirk evacuation; and, above all, how 25 days helped make one man an icon.

Using new archive material, McCarten reveals the crucial behind-the-scenes moments that changed the course of history. It’s a scarier—and more human—story than has ever been told.

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“Detail-rich and utterly fascinating,…Narrator John Lee performs Churchill’s voice and speech patterns perfectly. Lee further displays his linguistic prowess with his interpretations of the French, Italian, American, and German leaders of this critical period. Listeners will hear Churchill’s meetings with ambassadors, his War Cabinet, and other heads of state as he leads Great Britain through what was soon to become WWII. Lee is a powerful performer, and his impeccable portrayals of Winston Churchill and other heads of state are second to none. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

— AudioFile