This is Billie Holiday's autobiography, first published in Britain in the 1950s. I picked it up in a charity shop in Leicester and found it a fascinating read. Billie Holiday's life had a certain tragedy about it and indeed she led, at times, a very difficult life, struggling with addictions and being in trouble with the law. Her childhood is vividly depicted too, as she suffered poverty, racism and abuse growing up in the pre-WWII USA. Her stardom, when it came, was hard won but so deserved. All in all, a memorable, moving book.
Perfect for fans of The United States vs. Billie Holiday, this is the fiercely honest, no-holds-barred memoir of the legendary jazz, swing, and standards singing sensation—a fiftieth-anniversary edition updated with stunning new photos, a revised discography, and an insightful foreword by music writer David Ritz
Taking the reader on a fast-moving journey from Billie Holiday’s rough-and-tumble Baltimore childhood (where she ran errands at a whorehouse in exchange for the chance to listen to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith albums), to her emergence on Harlem’s club scene, to sold-out performances with the Count Basie Orchestra and with Artie Shaw and his…
I'm a long-term Kate Atkinson fan and this book - her latest - lived up to my expectations. It's a novel featuring her world-weary private detective Jackson Brodie, and his character and story are beautifully portrayed, as are those of the other protagonists. This is one of Atkinson's great strengths - her vivid, wry and amusing depictions of people - coupled with her ability to tell a tale brilliantly. This, for me, was my novel of the year
THE INSTANT #1 BESTSELLER (SUNDAY TIMES, UK) • The highly anticipated return of "irresistible" (New York Times) private eye Jackson Brodie in the newest installment of the bestselling series hailed as "unputdownable" by Time
“How delicious to have Jackson Brodie back, this time in a story that starts off in Agatha Christie's world but soon becomes a landscape that could only have been crafted from the pen of the incomparable Kate Atkinson.”–Ian Rankin, author of the Inspector Rebus Novels
Welcome to Rook Hall. The stage is set. The players are ready. By night’s end, a murderer will be revealed.
This is a fantastically researched and clearly-written biography of the singer Nick Drake. It's rather long - over 500 pages - but never loses pace as the author, Richard Morton Jack, takes you through the intricacies of Drake's troubled life. Drake has a certain air of mystery about him that's lasted through the years since his tragic death in 1974, and this book sheds light on many aspects of his life that help to solve some of those puzzles. Written with a warmth and an eye for detail, this is as good as music biographies get.
'This is the book we've been waiting for . . . It is a biography to be treasured' Joe Boyd
'The Drake completist could ask for nothing else' Daily Telegraph
'Illuminating. The definitive word on Drake' Observer
In 1968 Nick Drake had everything to live for. The product of a loving, creative family and a privileged background, he was not only a handsome and popular Cambridge undergraduate, but also a new signing to the UK's hippest record label, Island.
Three years later, however - having made three well-reviewed but low-selling albums - Nick had been overwhelmed by a mysterious mental…
