Here, finally, is a book that does not sensationalise her erratic and exotic life, but reveals her as the damaged, childlike and lost feminist she was ... An excellent book ... A detailed narrative that does not scream with hyperbole, or moan with lust. It is much sadder than that ... It is fascinating * Daily Telegraph *
Banner presents a rich and often imaginative narrative of Marilyn's life. By the end, Monroe feels at once like an earthly being - an almost-friend - and an enigma, still slightly out of focus and just beyond reach. That seems right * New York Times Book Review *
Exciting to read; Banner's admiration of, and belief in, her subject really animate the text -- Susie Boyt * Financial Times *
Banner gives us a powerful portrayal of a savvy self-publicist who worked tirelessly to ensure her trajectory from glamour model to screen goddess -- Frances Wilson * Sunday Telegraph `Book of the Week' *
Offering a new interpretation of the star's life which draws on feminism and the history of gender ... Banner's book provides the most detailed account yet of Marilyn's fractured childhood -- Joan Smith * Independent `Book of the Week' *
Rigorously researched and scholarly * Daily Express *
A dazzling portrait of a fragile but remarkably ambitious and determined personality, as spiritual as she was corporeal, as canny as she was careless * Elle *
Offers a new perspective on her story. Drawing on new material from her diaries and private papers, it's a revelatory and intelligent tribute * Good Housekeeping *
Banner elegantly and skillfully chronicles Monroe's short life ... [she] paints a portrait of Monroe as a complicated, many-faceted woman * Publishers Weekly *
