With Billie: An extraordinary and haunting new life of the first lady of jazz - Julia Blackburn

Billie Holiday as you've never seen her - or heard her - before

The most intimate and revelatory book ever about one of the 20th century's greatest icon 

'My man don't love me, he treats me awful mean. My man, he don't love me, he treats me awful mean. He's the meanest man, that I've ever seen' - from 'Fine and Mellow

'Billie was a dreamer, and she always wished that some man would come along and be the man she really needed.'

'You had to be exceptional to play for her. She wanted everything to be just right. One wrong note, no matter how quiet or short, and she noticed it.'

'She couldn't do enough for the men she loved, or even her friends. She spent a large portion of the money she earned on heroin, but she also spent a lot on down-and-out friends.'

**This is a Jonathan Cape uncorrected book proof