May, 1940. Britain is at war, and just days after becoming Prime Minister, Winston Churchill must deal with the imminent threat of German invasion—as well as a skeptical King, a party plotting against him, and an unprepared public. In this gripping day-by-day, often hour-by-hour account of how Churchill found his footing and turned Britain around, Anthony McCarten—who adapted this biography into the screenplay for the Academy Award-winning film—reveals how Churchill practiced and re-wrote his key speeches, from "Blood, toil, tears and sweat" to "We shall fight on the beaches"; his consideration of a peace treaty with Nazi Germany, and his underappreciated role in the Dunkirk evacuation.