25 Comments
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laura thompson's avatar

Great news about the publisher Sarah. Well done. It will be an amazing book.

Sarah Harkness's avatar

Thank you! I'm delighted

Jill Swenson's avatar

Congratulations and looking forward to reading more profiles of women like Susan!

Margaret Bennett's avatar

Congratulations Sarah. Well deserved.

Wendy Wright's avatar

Wonderful news- can’t wait to read it 🙏🙏

Wendy Varley's avatar

So pleased your recent essays will become a new book. Congratulations, Sarah!

Andy Carter's avatar

Congratulations on the book, Sarah - great stuff!

Andrew Kitching's avatar

My Dad had a copy of that book. He admired Crosland and Healey above all others.

Susan's description of Tony Benn disturbing their Sunday afternoons to talk policy, is hilarious.

Jeffrey Streeter's avatar

Congratulations on the book deal, Sarah. This is a superb essay. The subjects are compelling and the telling is masterly. It's also a reminder of what seems like a long-lost political era that vanished forever in the 1980s when the cult of the market became our national religion.

Neural Foundry's avatar

Stunning portrait of a partnership that worked precisely because both parties knew what was at stake. The part about him wanting to hear about Susan's day first, no matter how late he got home, says so much abouttheir dynamic. I've seen too many political marriages where the 'important' work completely overshadows everything else, and they invariably crumble.

Liz Gwedhan's avatar

And congratulations on the book contract!! Great news.

Liz Gwedhan's avatar

I don’t know if it’s in her book but back in the last century when I was married to a senior Labour politician who was a member of Humberside County Council the word in the party was that Tony would only come to a party on Saturday night if he could bring his slippers. The other story was that ‘Yes Minister’ could never have been written if Tony’s diaries had never been published. They took the lid off.

Sarah Harkness's avatar

I'm sure its true about the slippers.

Liz Gwedhan's avatar

I forgot! It was slippers plus Match of the Day!

Sarah Harkness's avatar

Yep. His civil servants all knew and had to work round him. At banquets he would wander off to the official drivers’ room to join them

Jules's avatar

I cannot wait to buy the book. Well done Sarah, I know it's going to be hard work but what a wonderful subject! Many congrats 🥳

Fabulous piece too. I don't know why, but I was not as aware of the Croslands as I am of other political marriages of the time. Hugely enjoyable read, as always x

Margaret Bennett's avatar

Congratulations Sarah. Well deserved.

Jonathan Crain's avatar

Congratulations! Fabulous news.

Ann Kennedy Smith's avatar

Loved this, Sarah and congrats on your publising contract. Did you see the recent Women's History Network post about letters by political 'wives' – nothing like what you're doing, but quite interesting in terms of how the expected spouse role changed after 1959.

https://womenshistorynetwork.org/a-word-to-the-wives-spousal-letters-and-the-politics-of-persuasion-1959-74-harvey-bone-and-tabatha-burden/

Victoria K. Walker's avatar

That’s great news, Sarah. And well deserved!