The Lives of Lee Miller

by Antony Penrose

"Part memoir, part photo essay, part search for the real woman behind an unconventional mother....Should ensure Miller the place she deserves in future histories of the period."—Art in America

• Lee Miller: 1927: New York. Classically beautiful, she is discovered by Condé Nast and immortalized by Steichen, Hoyningen-Huene, Horst, and other famous photographers.
• Lee Miller: 1929: Paris. Protégé and lover of Man Ray, she invents with him the solarization technique of photography and develops into a brilliant Surrealist photographer.
• Lee Miller: 1939-1945: Europe. She becomes a U.S. war correspondent and covers the liberation of Paris. Her photographs of the Dachau concentration camp shock the world.

These are but three of the many lives of Lee Miller, intimately recorded here by her son, Antony Penrose, whose years of work on her photographic archives unearthed a rich selection of her finest work, including portraits of her friends Picasso, Braque, Ernst, Eluard, and Miró. To these are added many other photos that complement Penrose's highly readable biography of this uniquely talented artist. 171 duotone illustrations.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Art, Photography, History, Memoir, Audiobook

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1985

About the author

Antony Penrose was born on 9 September 1947 in the London Clinic, central London. He is the son of Lee Miller, a model, fine art photographer and noted war correspondent, and Sir Roland Penrose, the surrealist artist, poet and biographer of Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Man Ray, and Antoni Tàpies, who co-founded the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in 1947.

Reviews

[Ruthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Undoubtedly one of the most interesting people of the 20th Century. Her comparative obscurity might be down to an all-pervading sexist assumption that women don't do anything interesting themselves, they just have 'interesting friends' - in this case Picasso, Ernst, Miro, Man Ray etc. But with Lee Miller it might equally be down to a self-destruct button that led her to respond in her 60s "Oh, I did take a few pictures - but that was a long time ago." TAKE A FEW PICTURES?!?

For those who aren't familiar with Miller: she was a luminously beautiful young woman who became a model for Vogue in the 1920s after a chance encounter with Conde Nast on a New York pavement. She quickly became more interested in working the other side of the camera, took herself off to Paris to learn from Man Ray, the leading surrealist photographer. I recently saw an exhibition of her work in Vienna and she rightly became a member of the surrealist movement on her own terms.

She spent the 1930s in Egypt, Paris and Europe and was in London for the Blitz and most of the war, all the while taking powerful photos.

She then became the accredited War Correspondent for Vogue - a mindbending concept - covering the siege of St Malo and the liberation of Paris. Onwards into Germany where she entered Dachau with US troops and took powerful photos which shocked the world. She also proved to be a brilliant journalist, writing with a vivid, immediate voice. By the way, the unsettling picture of Miller in Hitler's bath is a set-up - there is a parallel photo she took of David Sherman (in the Vienna exhibition). Miller then travelled Eastern Europe as the Russians were increasingly in control.

Her life thereafter seems to have gone into decline. As one friend said to her "we can't keep a World War going, just so you can have some excitement." A 50/day smoking habit and life of hard-drinking probably didn't help.

This book is written by her son and has lots of beautifully produced photographs. It's good on the pathos of the end of her life and the son is candid about their difficult relationship. It's clear that there was some form of mental instability throughout her life. Bi-polar seems a possibility.

But the book barely touches on the origins of this extraordinary woman and what made her what she was. What was the impact of being raped at the age of 7? Of needing your mother to douche you with mercury for a year to treat the resulting gonorrhea? And I suppose it's hard to write about your own mother's odd relationship with your grandfather: a man who photographed Lee nude, in the snow, a few weeks after the childhood rape. Who continued to photograph her nude alone, or with her friends, as she grew into her teens and twenties.

Something made her sufficiently disconnected that she could see a severed breast in a hospital after a mastectomy, pick it up and carry it home, put it on a plate and take a surreal photograph (in the exhibition, not in the book). Perhaps a different biographer would feel able to tackle these areas - I need to track down a full biography.

Nevertheless, a beautiful book of wonderful photos and an interesting read.

[David Crumm · Rating 4 out of 5]

An illustrated biography of Lee Miller from a son's perspective

For fans of the artist, fashion icon, journalist, photographer and gourmet chef Lee Miller, I am reviewing a series of the many books about her astonishingly varied creative life. In this review, I am commenting on what was considered the standard biography of Miller from its publication in 1995 until Carolyn Burke's more in-depth biography appeared in 2007 from the University of Chicago Press.

I started this series of reviews by recommending Burke's Lee Miller: A Life , which I continue to regard as the best biography of Miller's multi-faceted life. This foundational book has special authority because it was researched and written by a recognized scholar—in contrast to the many other volumes produced via the Miller archives and Miller's son Antony Penrose. Comparing the text in these books about various eras of Miller's life, Burke's stands up, in my view, as providing more detail and probing more fully into challenging aspects of Lee's life than other books.

Let me pause to recap this series of reviews:

Among the books related to the Penrose archives: I reviewed the 2023 Lee Miller: Photographs in which Antony Penrose collaborated with Kate Winslet as a "tie in" with Winslet's feature film, titled simply Lee. Then, I reviewed a pair of books about Lee Miller's work during World War II: First Grim Glory , which showcases her work in Britain before D-Day, and then the larger book, Lee Miller's War: Beyond D-Day. After that, I reviewed a companion book to the extensive exhibition on surrealist-related works that was staged in Venice—a gorgeous art book, titled Lee Miller & Man Ray: Fashion, Love, War. And, I reviewed a really intriguing book about Miller's work as a fashion photographer during World War II in Britain, titled Lee Miller: Fashion in Wartime Britain.

So, now, a look at what was the standard biography:

Antony Penrose's The Lives of Lee Miller continues to sell, especially because a new 2021 edition was released as a movie "tie in." I've seen that less-expensive 2021 edition and prefer the original 1995 version of the book, even though it is more expensive. In exploring Miller's life and her groundbreaking work, we really want to see the photographs printed in the largest and most high-resolution format possible. The movie "tie in" edition is a smaller-format book and, given the reduced price, the photo quality is not as lavish.

At this point, friends reading this series of reviews have asked the basic question: "OK, so you've convinced me to read about Lee Miller, but I'm not as obsessed as you seem to be—and I'm not buying a whole bunch of books—so tell me what I should buy."

My answer is: Many of these books are available through local libraries (or through inter-library loan), so purchasing them is only one option. And, I still would start with Burke's landmark biography. Then, if you're curious about specific facets of Miller's life, get copies of those specialized books. If you are tempted to purchase Penrose's own biography of his mother, The Lives of Lee Miller, then look for the larger-format 1995 edition.

Comparing Penrose's text with Burke's, for example, the early crises and twists in Miller's childhood—and the controversial decisions of her parents—are sketched quickly as if Penrose was hurrying to leave those scars behind. Penrose seems to be giving us his family's accepted version of these stories, including a rationale for Miller's father repeatedly photographing her in the nude as a child, including in strange settings like outdoors in the snow in winter. Penrose's family version is that this was all just a natural part of what Papa Miller regarded as a progressive, scientifically based upbringing for children. Burke's book raises deeper questions that I think anyone who admires Miller's triumphant successes would want to know about what early traumas drove her so relentlessly in life.

What I do like about the 1995 larger-format edition of Penrose's book are all the mesmerizing photographs from her many artistic and journalistic pursuits around the world. In fact, if you are thinking of investing in a more expensive coffee-table-format book about Miller, I would buy a copy of this 1995 book before I would buy the 2023 coffee-table book with text from Kate Winslet. Comparing those two books specifically, the 1995 book has far more information and photographs.

Despite at least a few friends telling me that I'm a bit overboard in my thoroughness in reviewing Miller books, I am determined to continue. In my field of journalism, she is a towering figure and I think we all owe it to those pioneering women in our profession to lift up their lives and contributions to our collective work around the world. Plus, I know I won't quit this series without getting to the most unusual book of all: the one about Miller's life as a gourmet cook!

This creative force never seemed to meet a challenge she could not conquer.

[Joseph Sciuto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A couple of weeks ago I read an article in a magazine about this extraordinary lady Lee Miller. What I couldn't understand was how I never heard about her because she was in Paris, France during the late 1920's and then, on and off, throughout the 1930's. She hung out with the likes of Picasso, was in the company of Hemingway, and so many other artists that I have read so much about.

She was a beautiful lady and started out as a fashion model for Vogue and then went on to be one of its leading photographers, covering not only fashion, but the Normandy invasion and the allies advance into Germany. She and her partner were the first to step into Hitler's mansion, and she took a bath in Hitler's bathtub and slept in Eva Braun's bed. If all this might seem a little weird, believe me, after reading this book it seemed perfectly in her character.

She traveled the world, was sexually active, and needed adventure in her life to feel alive. The more dangerous the better. She drank heavily, was interested not only in photography but anything that was new in science, medicine, technology, and world events. She wrote numerous articles for Vogue about the war with photographs that only someone up close, in danger of being killed, could have taken.

She is what I call a little 'Da Vinci.' It is the highest compliment I could give to a person. Like Da Vinci, the world around her was fascinating and needed an explanation. "The Lives Of Lee Miller," was a great start getting to know this unique and talented lady, and I see reading a number of other books about her in the near future.

[Puck · Rating 4 out of 5]

To the most persistent of questioners [Lee Miller] would say that everything had been destroyed in the war, always adding that it was of no interest anyway and best forgotten. Her disparagement of her own achievements was so intense that everyone was convinced that she had done little or no work of significance. "Oh, I did take a few pictures - but that was a long time ago", she would say.

Photographer, war correspondent, fashion model, gourmet cook, social butterfly: Lee Miller (1907 - 1977) seemed determinate to chase through life, making friends everywhere she went and always looking for the next adventure, until that hunger turned against her and nearly burned her out.
High-spirited and charming on her good days, cold and restless on the bad - one of her ex-lovers described her as a 'thoroughbred horse bursting out of the stables' - Lee Miller is now known as one of the most famous 20th century female photographers.

Reading this extensive biography, written by Miller's own son (whom she had a rocky relationship with) often left me speechless: not just because of the mindblowing events Miller experienced, but how Anthony has managed to bring all that information together into a concise, fascinating ánd painfully honest story.
After all, it was only after his mother's death that Anthony discovered more than 60.000(!) photos, letters, journals and magazines about Miller in the attic. What a goldmine. What a painful realization, that your own mother never even shared a fraction of it with you.

There are many moments in The Lives of Lee Miller that amazed, shocked or moved me, but one that stays is reading about Miller's journey in 1946 to the outskirts of Romania.
After witnessing and documenting the battles and horrors of World War II, Miller believed that the only cure for her horrible backpain was to be trampled on by a tame Romanian dancing bear.
Not to say that it didn't work - and of course there are pictures of it - but it's an exemplary moment of who Miller was: seeking sensation and mystery instead of facing the people she left behind or the (traumatic) problems she accumulated over the years.

The only thing I missed is more personal stories from Anthony and his father, but maybe that would've colored the biography too much: this book shows her as the complex person she was, and all the sides of her grand archive. A certain recommendation for fans of art-history and photography in the 20th century: 4,5 stars.

[K.K. Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fact that her son researched and wrote this book makes it that much more interesting. However, having recently read FAREWELL TO THE MUSE, I think my reading was affected. FAREWELL did a better job of taking you into the women's lives as if reading a story. Antony Penrose relied heavily on primary texts included in each chapter. Letters and articles that Lee wrote. And though they have the capacity to be fascinating and add to the reading, I felt he relied too heavily on them. There could have been less of each excerpt and more of his telling us the story of her. Sometimes, there were details in the primary texts that were extraneous, out of context, and therefore distracting. It seems between her letters and articles for VOGUE, a book could be released containing only those. (If it hasn't been already.)

However, the lives of Lee Miller were fascinating. She was a regular nude model, for photographers such as Man Ray as well as her own father. She became a successful photographer herself and wrote articles for VOGUE. She put herself in the way of war for the story and the pictures and the thrill. She saw WWII first hand, including cleaning up in Hitler's tub shortly after he was found dead. There is a picture to prove it.

She's also a study in how beauty and sex and relationships affect our identities. A startling beauty most of her life, her looks did allegedly decline. She was not very good at being in a committed relationship, though ultimately spent most of her life with Roland Penrose. One thing I found interesting was how FAREWELL has affected my understanding and perception of Roland, as in the Preface of FAREWELL, she quotes him as having said to her (the author) that the women weren't worth researching or writing about. They were simply muses for the artists. This changed my understanding of the word "muse" forever. Lee was no muse. She was a hell on wheels energy that was probably too painful to romanticize, but she certainly knew how to squeeze life for every drop.

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had had this book quite a while, but had restricted myself to casually flicking through the photographs and hadn't read too much about the woman who made them. How glad I am I finally bothered to read the book.
Lee Miller was larger than life: a model, a lover, a surrealist, photographer, a muse , a mother and a gracious hostess and an exceptional cook. She is not so much a role-model, as a source of inspiration. She managed to have numerous love-affairs and yet remain friends with her lovers, and take photographs of fashion shows for the Vogue and of Dachau for the American Press. She was nothing if not full of contradiction: achieving so much despite her constant fits of depression.
Anthony Penrose, the author of this biography, is Lee Miller's son. I think his work, full of Lee Miller's photographs and anecdotes of her extravagant parties, is a solid and enjoyable introduction to his mother's life.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Model, photographer, muse, cook ; working in fashion and then becoming a war reporter during WW2, moving Vogue articles from catwalks to battlefields, while still taking portraits of and befriending royals, the whole gang of Surrealists and making the whole of Europe, America and the Middle East fall in love with her (or become absolutely exasperated with her antics).
Maybe one of the most incredible characters I’ve ever read or learnt about, unapologetically unreasonable and free, I loved Lee and reading about her through her son’s words.

[Emilie · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the most beautiful navel of Paris to a daring war correspondent and photographer, Lee Miller’s life is as outrageous as it is impressive.

Some highlights:
- Demanding to be Man Ray’s first student, living with him for 3 years, and developing so entwined a style that neither of them saw the point of distinguishing between their work.

- On one of her desert excursions, she surprised the dehydrated party with a cooler full of Martinis… A scientist she was not…

- When Picasso painted her portrait, she pre-empted her party guests’ negative comments on its likeness and prepared a room of art supplies. When the comments started to come in, she swung open the doors and invited them to try for themselves, ruining many cocktail dresses in the process.

- Took Hitler’s swastikaed and monogrammed tray from his house to serve drinks on.

- Insisted on being walked on by a Carpathian dancing bear to help her back pain. Despite the brutal persecution of Romas which had made Carpathian dancing bears somewhat scarce, she succeeded.

- This one is better as a quote: “This took hours of what she termed ‘boondoggling’, when she would find any number of things except the matter at hand to occupy herself with. As the deadline approached, the many alternatives to work seemed increasingly urgent. She would make love, hang around the bar and get drunk, argue, sleep, curse and rail, cry, in fact do anything rather than make a start on the article. She spent hours inventing mythical characters whose names were frightful bilingual puns”

- Dramatic irony around her ridicule of antifascism in the late 1930s and aesthetic displeasure with Palestine (“You only have to take a good look at the blasted place to be completely floored as to why everyone from the time of Moses has been screaming for that rotten county.”) is also fantastic.

Accepting applications now for any who wants to come visit her house in Sussex with me :)

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating portrait of a woman who's done it all, with flair, style, and finesse. Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC/audiobook which I enjoyed immensely.

[Molly Curnow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lee Miller is the coolest woman who ever lived, you cannot convince me otherwise

[Sven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es ist nicht immer eine gute Kombination, wenn Menschen Biografien über ihre Mütter oder Väter schreiben. In diesem konkreten Fall ist aber ein sehr gelungenes Buch herrausgekommen. Was dem Text zugutekommt: Penrose ist seiner Mutter nicht nur familiär verbunden, sondern auch fachlich. Und er schleppt sein persönliches Verhältnis zu ihr nicht permanent ins Buch hinein (lange Zeit war es offenbar schwierig, aber das wird erst am Ende klarer und ich will jetzt mal nicht spoilern).

Was mir gefallen hat: Das Buch führt zunächst einmal sehr gut durch die verschiedenen Phasen der vielen Leben von Lee Miller und es sind zahlreiche Abbildungen vieler bekannter Fotografien darin abgedruckt (im eBook leider nicht so ansprechend, aber das ist ja mein Problem). Insbesondere dort, wo es um die Reportagen aus dem besiegten Nazideutschland geht, erfährt mehr über den Entstehungskontext einzelner Bilder. Also zum Beispiel auch über den Tag, an dem das eine bekannte Badewannenbild in München entstanden ist. Ohne Zweifel ein gelungener Auftritt, wie sie mit ihren US Army-Stiefeln den Dreck aus Dachau ins Badezimmer am Prinzregentenplatz 16 hineinlatscht. Wenn ich jedoch von allen im Buch abgedruckten Fotos einen Favoriten wählen müsste, wäre es vielleicht eher das 1937 in Ägypten aufgenommene »Portrait of Space«.

Penrose hat gut gewählte Auszüge aus Briefen von Lee Miller und sogar komplette Briefe in die Kapitel eingeflochten. Das ist meiner Meinung nach die größte Stärke des Buches. Mir ist darüber erst klar geworden, was für eine tolle Briefeschreiberin Lee Miller war und wie ihr Talent zum Erzählen aufleuchtet. Gleichzeitig zeigt das Buch die innere Getriebenheit als persönliche Grundkonstante (»Immer lieber woanders hin!«), es benennt den Alkoholmissbrauch und Folgen auf der zwischenmenschlichen Ebene, macht das nachvollziehbar, ohne es zu entschuldigen.

Eine Schwäche: Millers Arbeiten werden nicht ausführlicher besprochen und fotografisch/kunsthistorisch eingeordnet. Über die Kapitel zur Studioarbeit bekommt man darüber etwas mit. Aber es hätte mehr sein können (da schlägt vermutlich einfach meine Vorliebe für Theorie durch, sorry!).

Diesen kleinen Punkt will ich dem Verfasser aber nicht zum Vorwurf machen. Man muss sich für einen Zugang entscheiden und Penrose hat das gut entschieden. Ich jedenfalls habe es schnell weggelesen. Und ein wenig ärgert es mich jetzt doch, dass ich vor eineinhalb Jahren nicht nach Hamburg zur dortigen Ausstellung über Lee Miller gefahren bin.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5
I feel like it gets such high reviews just because her son wrote her biography since there wouldn’t be much information about Lee Miller and from reliable source if not for him
but in my opinion, it is not well written
the first thing that struck me from first page is that Antony Penrose gave 1 paragraph to Lee and then went on to talk about her father for 2 pages, who wouldn’t be mentioned until the last few pages of the book and only briefly at that. so I didn’t quite get why a woman-artist got once again overshadowed by a man when it was totally not justified (you either start with family background or give a proper introduction to a person to the person the biography is about). that feeling stayed with me throughout the book , while he was emphasising different people in an autobiography of a great woman photographer . she should have been emphasised.

ah, almost forgot, but picked it up from different reviews. it did in fact also disturbed me but i forgot about it while approaching the end of the book. Lee’s father was a freak, which was not mentioned by Penrose at all, he was just dropping facts without acknowledging it. this makes my first remark about the father even more acute – why talk about him so much from the start on expanse of Lee when he literally photographed his teenager child and her friends nude, which sure is not the greatest influence…

[Rachel-RN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth "Lee" Miller. She was a former model turned photographer. Not many know about her; another woman almost forgotten to history.
I picked this book up to learn more about her after seeing the movie "Lee" with Kate Winslet.
Lee had a harder upbringing; she was raped at 7 and got a STI and her mother had to give her a dichloride Mercury solution via douche for a month to treat (era before antibiotics). She also posed for her father so he could take pictures.
She had a hard time staying in one place, always wanted to be on the move, to travel. She had many interesting friends (like Picasso). She was able to parlay her love of photography into a career. She was in London during the Blitz. She took pictures during WWII for Vogue. She was one of the first people to see and photograph liberated Paris and later Dachau. Her most known photograph is her in the bathtub of Hitler's Munich apartment. She had just come from Dachau (if you look at the picture, there is dirt/ash from her boots on the bathmat).
I wonder how much of the issues she had with relationships were related to her childhood assault. She didn't have the best relationship with her son either. Lee was such an interesting person, flaws and all.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride. For the first third of the book I felt I didn’t hear Lee’s voice, I only saw her through the lens (!) of others. During the war, thanks to her writing (amazing process there) I started to understand her - or at least felt that I did. It cannot go without comment that this was written by her son. At times, he was fondly indulgent, at others he sounded embattled and snarky, at others admiring, at others tolerant. This was a good gateway book to the enigma that is Lee Miller. I will keep exploring. As her son said, she had the ability to make people simultaneously exasperated and adoring all at once. I feel the same.

[Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this after seeing the Kate Winslet movie, Lee and I’m so glad I did because the movie only touches on one season of Lee’s life. She was a fascinating, complicated, challenging woman and a total badass. She blazed trails, made big mistakes, and did her best to chase happiness and adventure. It was fascinating to get to read about the unique seasons of her life.

[Olorunbunmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Undoubtedly another individual who should’ve been included in our World War II curriculum, this is a beautiful tribute to a mother who struggles with mental illness was after witnessing the horrors of the Second World War. I’m completely impressed with what this young g woman from Poughkeepsie, NY was able to achieve.

[Matthew Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about a fascinating woman! I will have to watch the movie now.

[belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

【4/5】 ★★★★☆

Lee Miller was certainly one of the most fascinating women to ever exist in the 20th century. Antony Penrose has put a lot of effort into the challenge of gathering information from sources all over the world — all well done. My main nitpick with this biography was the abrupt change in subject and jumps to another period in Lee's life that would leave me confused. Perhaps that's a me problem. But I have to say, this is a fantastic biography overall, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about this amazing woman.

[Karen Poulter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Danae Lamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Linda Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to see more of Lee Miller's photography and her son's book has 171 duotone illustrations. The text reflects the journey the author took to discover his mother: the two did not have a close relationship and the prose reads like a stranger writing about this extraordinary woman. Antony Penrose refers to himself in the third person in later chapters, adding to the chill. The peculiar title was suggested by David Scherman who shared many of Lee Miller's photographic adventures. Scherman's obituary in the NY Times said he was "one of the first photographers to enter Munich, where he discovered Hitler's hideaway before the Allied forces did." Lee Miller was taking pictures that day, too, an elbow's distance from Scherman.

[Audrey Nizen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even after reading this book and learning about the life of Lee Miller you want to know more. What was it about her that made incredible men fall madly in love with her. And why was that not that interesting to her? Her brilliance shines through and so does her pain. Her incredible accomplishments and survival amaze when you see how far she pushed her luck.
She was a fascinating person.

[nukie19 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this are amazing and so interesting but parts are just name dropping and that got old as I moved into Miller's later life. Also, there was something a little awkward about reading a biography written by the person's child but treated with such a dispassionate view - almost like writing about someone Penrose didn't know.

[Lisa Daleiden-Brugman · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the writing style is lack-luster, the lives of Lee Miller are fascinating. A woman who kept reinventing herself and continued to be a creative person throughout her life, Lee lived big. I wish there had been more of her photographs. And maybe a recipe or two from her gourmet chef years.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After seeing the recent movie, I enjoyed this photo-rich biography with pictures off and by Miller. exuberance and sadness, love and hate.

[Brendan Hanton]

An enjoyable but somewhat uneven account of the life of a woman as mercurial as she was vivacious.
Certain parts of Lee's life are covered in great detail, whilst others are barely more than a string of loosely connected, often humourous, anecdotes.
The early periods of Lee's life, and right on through World War Two, receive the greatest level of detail with the final 20-30 years of her life comprising far less of the text. Whilst the earlier era of her life contains the far more globally significant elements, her post war life seems no less interesting. This is unfortunately where details are more sparse.
Antony Penrose being Lee Miller's son adds a complex layer to the text that I'm not sure ever fully escapes the seemingly conflicted relationship the two shared for much of their lives. How much that affects that text is hard to judge, but I think it certainly adds to the uneven nature, especially during the descriptions of her life post World War Two.
This feels like an introduction to the life of woman who lived enough to fill several detailed volumes. I'm unsure if other works documenting Lee's life exist, but if they do I would be keen to dig into them. Lee was undoubtedly a remarkable woman and this book provides a tantalising glimpse into her extraordinary life.

[Katy Wheatley]

This is a review for the audio book, but I also address the book book here. After having listened to a podcast where the granddaughter of Lee Miller was interviewed about her life, I was fascinated and wanted to know more about this enigmatic, complex woman who clearly had such astonishing talent but also such a predilection for self destruction. This book was written by Antony Penrose, Lee's son, with whom he acknowledges in this book, he had a fairly rocky relationship. I understand that she kept much of her early life hidden from her family and to find that your mother was far more than you imagined must have been something of a shock but also a gift.

This is really interesting, well researched and full of fascinating details about Lee's life. As for the audio recording of the work, it was, I confess, not entirely pleasing. The narrator has quite a flat, style of delivery that slightly undermines the material he is delivering. I'm glad that they got a woman to read the extracts from Miller's diaries and letters, but I wish a woman had been chosen to read the entire book. I give the material five stars and the audio book, three stars.

[Ellie Mortell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book about an incredible woman.

[Olivia Redfearn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting! If you don't read this, watch the film. She really was an icon!

[Bruna Langiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meraviglioso. Penso di essermi innamorata di questa donna