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Home - A Memoir of My Early Years
by Julie Andrews
Hyperion
ISBN 978-0-7868-6565-9
Published April 2008 - Hardcover - 339 pages - $28.95

Everybody loves Julie Andrews.  She's not just Mary Poppins or the star of The Sound of Music - there's a whole lot more to this accomplished actress and singer.  She had the voice of an angel as well as an angelic appeal.  Born in England in 1935 to humble beginnings, we learn of her growing up in the English countryside during the war, of her rather sad-yet-happy childhood, her family, and how she began singing.  She also took ballet lessons and her mother and stepfather had a stage show which they took on the road.  I enjoyed Ms. Andrews' description of the English suburbs, her recollections of the homes she and her family lived in, her early touring and performing on stage around the country, and the invaluable experience she was gaining at the same time.  An unusual way of growing up, and by her teenage years, she was singing and working with many big names in the English theatre.  By the age of 17 she was bringing in enough money to take care of her parents, and later by performing on Broadway in The Boy Friend.  She went on to do My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison and Camelot with Richard Burton (pre-Elizabeth Taylor) on stage in New York.  The book is full of celebrity associations and thus quite interesting.  Ms. Andrews' story takes us up to when she'd just had her first child and left for Hollywood to make Mary Poppins.
Do visit Julie Andrews' website.
Conclusion - A nice look at the life of such an English lady with the most astonishingly good voice.