New Audrey Hepburn biography is an emotional roller coaster of joy and tragedy

Reading Intimate Audrey feels like cuddling into your favourite reading nook and wrapping yourself in a real-life fairy tale. In this book, the authors take you on a most personal journey into Audrey Hepburn’s life from her childhood to her death.

Filled with stories of victory – such as being declared the only person to play Gigi in the Broadway show of the same name by the novelist on whose book the show was based – and tragedy, such as when her housekeeper revealed the extent of her husband’s affairs, this book shows a side of Hepburn that we never knew.

But perhaps Audrey Hepburn is a new figure to you? After all, her most iconic film roles came in the 1950s and 60s in films such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, My Fair Lady and Roman Holiday.

In her later years, her love of children and drive to help them led her to serve as a Goodwill Ambassador of Unicef. Perhaps this need to help was a way to give back after receiving international aid when she was a malnourished and traumatised child, recovering from the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II.

One co-author, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, is Hepburn’s son from her marriage to Mel Ferrer. The younger Ferrer has worked in almost every part of the entertainment industry and carries on with Hepburn’s work through non-profits and Unicef. Wendy Holden joins him as co-author – a great choice, as she is a journalist, historian and novelist with a focus on World War II. Her bestselling titles include The Teacher of Auschwitz. She has also ghostwritten memoirs for public figures such as Goldie Hawn, Barbara Sinatra and Cher.

Each chapter begins with a quote from Hepburn and a scene written as if in a screenplay. It is an effective technique. By the end of the first chapter, readers may feel moved to tears by how Hepburn struggled to be strong while experiencing the tragedy unfolding in a Somali refugee camp where children were dying from starvation.