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Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith

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Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (Paperback)

by Andrew Wilson (Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

RRP:	�9.99
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The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
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Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
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Product details

Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (3 May 2004)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0747568553
ISBN-13: 978-0747568551
Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 3.6 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 190,216 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
'A fascinating, beautifully balanced and meticulously researched biography, bringing us as close to understanding Highsmith as we are ever likely to get' Sunday Telegraph 'Wilson has delved with extraordinary diligence, and everything he has unearthed is remarkable' Mail on Sunday 'Excellent and outstandingly readable Brilliant and compelling' Daily Mail 'An exemplary biography of a tortured, difficult and outstandingly gifted human being' Sunday Times

Daily Mail
‘Excellent and outstandingly readable … Brilliant and compelling’

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	67% buy the item featured on this page: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith 4.5 out of 5 stars (14) �6.99
	15% buy The Talented Mr. Ripley 4.8 out of 5 stars (36) �5.59
	7% buy The Price of Salt 3.7 out of 5 stars (3) �7.99
	6% buy Ripley Under Ground 3.8 out of 5 stars (6) �5.99

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remembering Pat, 9 Sep 2003

By	Vivien De Bernardi (CH-6678 Lodano, Ticino Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (Hardcover)

When the young journalist, Andrew Wilson, came to interview me for his book about Patricia Highsmith, I couldn't imagine how he would ever be able to capture the emotional volatility, the piercing intellectual focus, and the utter simplicity, almost transparency, of her powerful and often disturbing presence. Amazingly, Wilson has carried off this herculean task and given us a Highsmith almost as brilliantly complex and perplexingly ingenuous as the woman herself. Surely the next best thing to having actually known her is to read this superb biography.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional talent!!!, 22 Aug 2003

By	Sis Ofeel (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (Hardcover)

Andrew Wilson is a wordsmith extraordinaire. His natural and unique talent for captivating the reader with quick paced and incisive narrative together with what seemed to be a genuine interest and understanding of Patricia Highsmith made this outstanding biography a gripping read and a real page turner from start to finish. For anyone who enjoys top notch writing as much as a compelling story - this is the book for you.
Definitely my top pick for 2003. Wilson is going to be a huge talent in the literary world - move over Martin Amis and co - Wilson is coming!
An excellent and truly exhilirating read....!!

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last!, 5 Jan 2004

By	R. P. Sedgwick "Grim Rob" (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith (Hardcover)

As a long-time fan of Patricia Highsmith, who I have been reading since I was a teenager, I was looking forward to reading this book to find out about the author, of whom I knew very little other than the basic details of her life.

I wasn't disappointed. Beautiful Shadow interweaves the life of Highsmith and her books almost as one, and demonstrates how the two are so closely interlinked.

It's hard to believe from her books that Highsmith was most contended of individuals, and this proves to be the case.

Her story, which Wilson (although he never met her) has put together with the help of her journals and interviews with friends and contacts, is a masterful account of a tragic and tortured individual, who led a lonely life interrupted really only by the joy she gained from writing and painting.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars the talented mr. wilson
This is a wonderful book, a real must-have for all Highsmith fans. Thoroughly researched, based on Highsmith personnal diaries and cahiers, this is a literary biography as they... Read more

Published 2 months ago by bagoas

5.0 out of 5 stars good book
well-i disagree wholeheartedly with the person who slated andrew wilson(and no,i'm not related!)-i thought this book covered miss highsmiths life in depth and in an interesting... Read more

Published 3 months ago by snailtank

4.0 out of 5 stars stuart pe-win
I am not a big fan of literary biographies but I found this to be very readable and insightful. A "must by" for fans of her work.

Published on 22 Oct 2006 by Laclos

4.0 out of 5 stars Weird, Unkind, and Dissolute
"She was a weird, unkind, dissolute person." This is how her goddaughter remembers Patricia Highsmith, and after reading Andrew Wilson's biography, I think so, too. Read more

Published on 6 Jan 2004 by takingadayoff

5.0 out of 5 stars a beautiful shadow
As a long-term fan of Patricia Highsmith's dark prose I was delighted to read Andrew Wilson's accomplished biography. Read more

Published on 15 Jul 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars The wait is over
This is probably the most insightful, compulsively readable, scholarly biography I’ve ever read. Read more

Published on 14 Jul 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad!
Not a bad biography, actually quite captivating! Not worthy of five stars, with a few grammar errors (though not many), and not the best writing I've ever read; but not below... Read more

Published on 11 Jul 2003 by Kenneth Hand

5.0 out of 5 stars Biography of the year - from Kate Crowndale
I've been waiting for this book for years and it's everything I wanted - and more. Much more. Highsmith was a highly secretive, enigmatic woman who never revealed herself while... Read more

Published on 30 Jun 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars At Long Last
About the book: It’s a warts-and-all, cradle-to
grave portrayal of Pat Highsmith and I found it gripping from
start to finish. Read more

Published on 17 Jun 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise from PD James
This is probably the most insightful, compulsively readable, scholarly biography I’ve ever read. Read more

Published on 9 Jun 2003 by muse@wilsonaw.demon.co.uk

› See all 14 customer reviews...

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