April 7, 2015

Finest Hour 133, Winter 2006-07

Page 38

Boston Baked Churchill, by Mike Ryan. Mansfield, Mass.: Charles River Press, 264 pages softbound. Available from www.charlesriverpress.com, $4.49.

This sprightly historical novel uniquely involves the two Winston Churchills (see “That Other Winston Churchill,” FH 106) during their Boston meeting in 1901, who enjoy an adventure of derring-do against Irish Fenian terrorists intent on murdering English Winston and blowing up the USS Constitution.

The hero, Irish probation officer “Cootch” Connolly, learns of the plot and enlists the help of a Jewish girl, Rebekah Hurwitz, with whom he falls madly in love, engendering dubious reactions from her family and his: “Jews weren’t always viewed favorably by the Irish….All these thoughts invaded my brain. I hadn’t been haunted by such a woman in my entire life….”

Connolly meets Churchill by mail, and they meet when WSC’s lecture tour brings him to Boston. Churchill’s agent, Major Pond, introduces WSC to American Winston, and Ryan imagines what they likely said to each other during their first meeting. (American Winston: “I don’t often meet desperadoes who’ve had a price on their heads.” English Winston: “It was a mere £25.”)

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Never popular with Irish Republicans, Churchill becomes a target, but Connolly saves him from a bullet. With American Winston, they save the Constitution, which English Winston says has a “marvelous history [of] contributions to America’s years.” Buy this book and find out how this adventure, and Cootch’s love affair with Rebekah, turn out. Ryan writes well, and gives us a picture of an altogether believable “Young Winston.”