Sonia Purnell on Writing Women Back Into History

Episode 2

In this episode of the How You Find Your Voice podcast, I am joined by award-winning biographer and journalist Sonia Purnell to explore the extraordinary life of Pamela Churchill Harriman, one of the most influential political figures of the twentieth century that most people have never heard of.

Podcast artwork for episode two, featuring Sonia Purnell

Pamela Churchill Harriman was dismissed for decades as a socialite, a seductress, or “the greatest courtesan of the twentieth century”. Behind the scenes, she was a decisive political operator. She helped secure the Anglo-American alliance during the Second World War, advised presidents and prime ministers, mentored future world leaders and later played a crucial role in reshaping the Democratic Party in the United States.

We talk about how women historically exercised power when they were barred from holding it openly, and why influence was so often unnamed, sexualised or erased altogether. Sonia reflects on the five years of research behind Kingmaker, including access to private letters, diaries and previously unseen interviews that radically change how Pamela’s life can be understood.

The conversation also explore the striking parallels between the political climate of the 1930s and today. Rising extremism, weakened democratic norms, and the appeal of simplistic solutions feel unsettlingly familiar. Sonia explains why revisiting these histories now is not just corrective, but urgent.

This episode is about voice, visibility and who gets written into the historical record. It asks what changes when women’s lives are treated not as footnotes but as central narratives.