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9781639368051

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""Biographer Spence delivers a moving account of British actor Vivien Leigh's struggle with mental illness in the 14 years before her death. Spence has a novelist's flair for pacing and detail. Spence succeeds in bringing Leigh to vivid life.""--Publishers Weekly ""A sensitively drawn portrait of a Hollywood icon whose on-screen persona belied the troubled woman who struggled with mental illness. Drawing from numerous letters and personal papers, Spence starts with the events of 1953 and weaves back and forth through the high and low points, juxtaposing Leigh's on- and off-stage and screen lives.""--Booklist ""A sympathetic description of Leigh's 'perturbing nature'; an analysis of her numerous breakdowns, when she was in the grip of manic-depressive cycles -- the high spirits and crushing melancholia, when 'everything inside her brain was white noise.' Spence's biography is powerful and illuminating. It also confirms my creeping suspicion that, at this distance, Leigh was a better, more intimate and instinctive performer than Olivier.""--The Spectator (UK)

""A sympathetic description of Leigh's 'perturbing nature'; an analysis of her numerous breakdowns, when she was in the grip of manic-depressive cycles -- the high spirits and crushing melancholia, when 'everything inside her brain was white noise.' Spence's biography is powerful and illuminating. It also confirms my creeping suspicion that, at this distance, Leigh was a better, more intimate and instinctive performer than Olivier.""--The Spectator (UK)

Author Information

Lyndsy Spence is an author, historian, and screenwriter who specializes in writing about daring women. She is the founder of The Mitford Society and her books in Britain include The Mitford Girls' Guide to Life; The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll; The Mistress of Mayfair: Men, Money, and the Marriage of Doris Delevingne, and Cast a Diva: The Hidden Life of Maria Callas. Her book on Maria Callas is being adapted into a documentary by a twice-Oscar-nominated production company and Lyndsy is producing a documentary on the Latin-American icon, Selena. Where Madness Lies is her first book to be published in America. She lives in England.

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