Sonia Purnell Audiobooks

Women close to power and often wielding more of it, the territory of First Lady

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Who is Sonia Purnell?

Sonia Purnell is a British writer and journalist whose career has run through The Economist, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times, and whose books have marked her out as a biographer of formidable, often underestimated women. Her life of Clementine Churchill, Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill, was chosen as book of the year by The Telegraph and The Independent and was a finalist for the Plutarch Award.

She followed it with The Kingmaker, a biography of Pamela Harriman, and A Woman of No Importance, her book about Virginia Hall, which NPR named a Best Book of the Year and which is headed for the screen: Purnell wrote both the book and the screenplay for the forthcoming film, produced by J. J. Abrams.

Sonia Purnell in audiobooks

Biography is one of audio’s great genres – a life told well is simply a long story – and Purnell specialises in lives with their own narrative engine. First Lady brings her craft to our catalogue: journalism-honed research shaped into proper storytelling, from a writer whose subjects have included Clementine Churchill, Pamela Harriman and Virginia Hall. Women close to power, and frequently wielding more of it than the official record admits, are her recurring territory. For UK listeners who like biography with pace, point of view and an argument to make, Purnell is a thoroughly dependable choice.