We are thrilled, along with our friends over at the Darien Community Association, to welcome Erik Larson to Darien for a live, in-person book talk. This will be a ticketed event with a copy of the paperback book included in the price of the ticket. Erik will be in conversation with Dr. Antonio Dajer.
In-person tickets are sold out. Virtual tickets which include a copy of the book, are still available for purchase.
ABOUT SPLENDID AND THE VILE
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis
“One of [Erik Larson’s] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.”—Time • “A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Vogue • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • The Globe & Mail • Fortune • Bloomberg • New York Post • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • LibraryReads • PopMatters
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.
In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.
The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.
ABOUT ERIK LARSON
Erik Larson is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, which examines how Winston Churchill and his “Secret Circle” went about surviving the German air campaign of 1940-41. Erik’s The Devil in the White City is set to be a Hulu limited series; his In the Garden of Beasts is under option by Tom Hanks, for a feature film. He recently published an audio-original ghost story, No One Goes Alone, which has been optioned by Netflix. Erik lives in Manhattan with his wife, who is a writer and retired neonatologist; they have three grown daughters.
ABOUT DR. ANTONIO DAJER
Dr. Antonio Dajer is the director of quality assurance and coordinator for undergraduate medical education at NYP-Lower Manhattan Hospital. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the practice of emergency medicine. As the assistant ED director at NYP-Lower Manhattan Hospital and the attending physician on shift, he led the ED team that treated hundreds of individuals who were injured in the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11.
Dr. Dajer earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from New York University Medical School. Dr. Dajer is an assistant professor of emergency medicine in clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and an assistant attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
He is a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and is licensed to practice in New York and Connecticut.
Event Protocols
Masks and COVID vaccination are required for attendees. Please plan to show proof of vaccination as well as a photo ID at check-in. Seating in the DCA’s Garden Wing will be limited. We are closely monitoring the pandemic, and changes to the event format may be made at the discretion of the publisher, author, or event hosts. We appreciate your understanding that refunds are not available.
