THE STORY OF MY LIFE by LAWRENCE . Contents include: 1. Tale of a Horse 1 2. The Lawrences 8 3. Musical Missionary 19 4. Love-Its Called 23 5. Running Away 30 6. Prodigals Return 37 7. Vocal Victory 46 8. Going Abroad 56 9. Innocents Abroad 63 10. CecileGilly 69 11. French Friends 75 12. Tough Going 83 13. Monte Carlo Gamble 93 14. On the Way 99 15. Provincial Opera 105 16. It Never Rains But ... 110 17. Mission Accomplished 119 18. Labors Reward 124. 19. New York 128 20. Wagner in Germany 142 21. Home Again 150 22. Crest of the Wave 159 23. My Angel 166 24. Mexico City 182 25. Sister Kenny 193 26. I Audition Again 206 27. The Opera Again 218 28. The Old Veteran 235 29. Off to the Wars 243 30. Return to Europe 264 31. Musical Diplomacy 275 32. On My Feet 288
The story of Marjorie Lawrence, an Australian Soprano. She was a dramatic soprano and was at the height of her career when she contracted polio. She ended up loosing the use of her legs, but was still able to sing in some operas. It really is a wonderful story of determination and forging ahead and overcoming difficulties and adversity.
After watching the movie of the same name with Eleanor Parker in the role of Marjorie Lawrence, I wanted to learn more. The book was especially good at describing all that is entailed in becoming a opera singer. Lawrence's journey from a sheep ranch to the major opera houses and her struggle after getting polio was inspiring.
This is an interesting book written in 1949 by a successful professional opera singer who contracted polio in 1941. It is quite inspirational and I'm looking forward to watching the DVD which was also given to me for Christmas. I'm controlling my urge to look up information on Wikipedia until I've watched the movie. Then I can find out what happened during the rest of her life!