Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue

Sonia Purnell is a British bestselling writer and journalist. She is acclaimed for her trade biographies—biographies for a non-expert audience—of important figures in British history. Her works are particularly praised for the quality of her research and their engaging prose. Her first book, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition (2011) is a critical biography of former British prime minister Boris Johnson, which “challenge[d] his track record and integrity” (Penguin Random House. “Sonia Purnell.”) After this commercial and critical success, Purnell turned to writing biographies of female figures who played key roles in World War II that were largely overlooked by traditional accounts of the period. In 2015, she published Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill. In 2019, her best-known work, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy, was published. The book provides a biography of American spy Virginia Hall, who worked in France as a spy for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the Nazi occupation.

Purnell’s biography of Pamela Harriman grew out of these latter two projects. While researching Clementine Churchill, Purnell learned how “both Winston and Clementine prized [Pamela’s] very special contribution throughout the Second World War” (3). Purnell was “driven to find out the truth” about Pamela as a result. Pamela’s life was not dissimilar to that of Virginia Hall. Like Virginia, Pamela came from a wealthy family and was determined to use her social skills to support the Allied effort to fight the Axis during World War II. After the war, both Virginia and Pamela found their career ambitions hampered by rampant misogyny. Purnell sees her role as shedding light on the important contributions these overlooked women have made to history.