Queen B’s Decree: The last time I read a biography of anyone was probably when it was required reading in high school. But 2022 is the year of new books for Queen B, so a biography of a love story sounded like a perfect addition to my TBR.
Truly, Madly is the story of classic film stars Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. Their story felt like a real-life romance novel…except we then see the parts that we don’t always see in fiction. As much as Truly, Madly was about their intense and passionate love for each other, there was so much more that cannot be ignored.
Ambition, ego, jealousy, and mental health, Truly, Madly focused on so much more than their romance. It was well written and heavily researched, and including their letters and quotes of others made it feel more realistic—as if I was there with them as it occurred.
The in-depth exploration of Vivien’s mental illness, later to be diagnosed as bipolar disorder, was so interesting and heartbreaking at the same time. How gut-wrenching it must be to realize that the sparkle and brilliance that once drew Olivier in, was the same reason of the distance between them at the end.
Truly, Madly didn’t end with the happy ending that fiction would have given us, and that makes it even more profoundly sad, and yet, it’s memorable. I might have to revisit more biographies in the future.
Book: Truly, Madly: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, and the Romance of the Century by Stephen Galloway
Series: standalone
Genre: Biography