julian_craster

Has anybody read this book ?
[it is currently discounted at Bibliophile books uk ]



TO BE A WOMAN: The Life of Jill Craigie by CARL ROLLYSON

'My early life is a rather dismal, sordid affair.' That was pretty much all that this remarkable woman had to say on the subject, having re-invented herself (from Noreen Joan) as Jill and embarked on a life as film-maker, writer, pioneering feminist and devoted wife to former Labour leader, Michael Foot. But with free access to her private papers, her family and friends, including frank interviews with Michael Foot himself, Carl Rollyson has pieced together the jigsaw and written a biography which captures all the facets of her life, revealing her desperately lonely childhood where she was incarcerated in a succession of grim boarding schools, often left there for the holidays as well as term time and repeatedly let down by her self-absorbed mother, whom Jill finally admitted to herself she hated. From childhood through her first two marriages, her burgeoning career and into the glorious, turbulent and creative 50 years of her third marriage to Foot, Rollyson depicts a woman of grit and determination, beautiful and alluring to men yet loyal to her husband, a survivor and a fighter who created a home in Hampstead bursting with vitality and brilliance and filled with writers, actors, architects and painters. The picture built up from the words of family and friends is of a true 20th century woman, affectionate, intriguing and humbling. 382 pages with black and white photographs.^