Promotional Information

Julia Blackburn's brilliant and haunting new book is a life of Billie Holiday told in the voices of those who knew her.

About the Author

Julia Blackburn has written five books of non-fiction - Charles Waterton, The Emperor's Last Island, Daisy Bates in the Desert, Old Man Goya and With Billie - a family memoir, The Three of Us, which won the 2009 J. R. Ackerley Award, and two novels, The Book of Colour and The Leper's Companions, both of which were shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She is the author of seventeen short stories specially commisioned by BBC Radio, a selection of which were published in My Animals and Other Family, and four radio plays, including The Spellbound Horses, which was broadcast in 2011.

Reviews

Julia Blackburn's book gives a far more complete idea of Holiday as an artist than anything else I have read
*Guardian*

This is a raw, true book that evokes not just the life of the great singer Billie Holiday but an entire jazz era.... Blackburn's compelling tale is of whores, drug-pushers, bent policemen and crooked lawyers as well as brilliant musicians, and she brings alive everything she touches
*Mail on Sunday*

This addition to the tide of Billie Holiday books is extremely welcome. Nowhere else is the context of her life and work so vividly captured
*Toni Morrison*

Full of vigour and colour...Ms Blackburn's portrait of a unique artist is moving, revealing and quite unforgettable
*Economist*

Julia Blackburn...has contributed much to the legacy of a remarkable human being
*New Statesman*

Julia Blackburn's book gives a far more complete idea of Holiday as an artist than anything else I have read * Guardian *
This is a raw, true book that evokes not just the life of the great singer Billie Holiday but an entire jazz era.... Blackburn's compelling tale is of whores, drug-pushers, bent policemen and crooked lawyers as well as brilliant musicians, and she brings alive everything she touches * Mail on Sunday *
This addition to the tide of Billie Holiday books is extremely welcome. Nowhere else is the context of her life and work so vividly captured * Toni Morrison *
Full of vigour and colour...Ms Blackburn's portrait of a unique artist is moving, revealing and quite unforgettable * Economist *
Julia Blackburn...has contributed much to the legacy of a remarkable human being * New Statesman *