By her own admission, Easton knows little about music. This does not prevent here from offering us a great deal of inofrmation about music, most of it mistaken. She shares with a lot of people in this position an embarrassing naivete about what it is to perform, and a corresponding lack of insight into the particular circumstances of du Pre's retirement from the stage. It is hard to understand why someone who knows nothing of music should want to write the story of one of the century's leading musicians. Given that she has done so, it is a reasonable job, as far as one can tell, in relation to the non-musical facts. She is particularly fairminded in dealing with the enigma of du Pre's final nurse, Ruth Ann.

This is a great book about a great 'cellist. It is a welcome change in the world of tabloid biographies. Easton does a wonderful job in writing about an all to often neglected and forgotten genius