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| Home: A Memoir of My Early Years | 
 enlarge | Author: Julie Andrews
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $14.40
You Save: $12.55 (47%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (33 reviews)
Sales Rank: 130
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0786865652
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4028092
EAN: 9780786865659
ASIN: 0786865652
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Release Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Book Description
Since her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable roles that have endeared her to generations. But she has never told the story of her life before fame. Until now. In Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie takes her readers on a warm, moving, and often humorous journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and takes readers to 1962, when Walt Disney himself saw her on Broadway and cast her as the world's most famous nanny. Along the way, she weathered the London Blitz of World War II; her parents' painful divorce; her mother's turbulent second marriage to Canadian tenor Ted Andrews, and a childhood spent on radio, in music halls, and giving concert performances all over England. Julie's professional career began at the age of twelve, and in 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to participate in a Royal Command Performance before the Queen. When only eighteen, she left home for the United States to make her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend, and thus began her meteoric rise to stardom. Home is filled with numerous anecdotes, including stories of performing in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway and in the West End, and in Camelot with Richard Burton on Broadway; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, culminating with the birth of their daughter, Emma; and the call from Hollywood and what lay beyond. Julie Andrews' career has flourished over seven decades. From her legendary Broadway performances, to her roles in such iconic films as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii, 10, and The Princess Diaries, to her award-winning television appearances, multiple album releases, concert tours, international humanitarian work, best-selling children's books, and championship of literacy, Julie's influence spans generations. Today, she lives with her husband of thirty-eight years, the acclaimed writer/director Blake Edwards; they have five children and seven grandchildren. Featuring over fifty personal photos, many never before seen, this is the personal memoir Julie Andrews' audiences have been waiting for.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 28 more reviews...
 Review of Julie's Early Years May 15, 2008
Julie Andrews gives us a close up look at her early years. She seems to have been very honest and forthright in telling about each member of her family and how she related to them.You have real emphathy for her as she struggled to have some childhood and the truth that many times she was responsible for her families support and survival at a very young age..This book brodened my knowledge of the entertainment business and made me wish at times that I had been able to meet and know all the famous entertainers and celebreties that she was fortunate to know.
I would like to have heard about the rest of her life after 28 years old.
Delightful May 14, 2008
Fabulous book , I've always loved Julie Andrews and I love her more now! A wonderful read!
Dame Julie! Wow! May 10, 2008
How marvellous this book of Dame Julie's early years is.
Much of the story of her early career I knew from a concert Julie gave in the very late 1980's. Eventually PBS broadcast the concert here in California. I will always remember that particular concert for many reasons.
However, I have gone ahead of myself.
I downloaded Dame Julie's book to read, as I cannot hold a book in my hands because of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Then I eventually bought the hardcover to add to my library of first editions. I also wanted to see the photographs.
The strange thing is, as I was listening to Julie read her story I could not keep my eyes from looking at the beautiful face of our young Julie. It is a gorgeous picture of her! I was completely transfixed by the fresh-faced photograph of Julie and the manner in which she told the story of her young life and career.
Then, I realised, how short a time it has been from the first day I saw Julie on screen when I was a child, and how different everything is now - some forty-years later.
Julie writes as if she has been writing books all her life. Every sentence is well structured, and every word paints a clear picture of her life as a child, teenager, and young woman.
Her impressions are not over the top, they are genuine, her revelations beautiful, witty, and startling all at the same time.
Her love of England is felt deeply as one sits and reads the story, and in a way, she took me home as well.
The many vibrant images of England Julie painted with words brought back my own recollections of home. It was easy for me to smell and touch the English landscape as I listened to Julie's distinctive and peaceful speaking voice.
The pictorial images she draws are simple to see in ones mind as she meticulously unfolds each moment of her early life. One cannot help but feel her memories are authentic. She pays close attention to detail but does not embellish or bellyache. In that sense, it is as honest a story as one can possibly write, or read.
I enjoyed Julie's book, and I certainly do hope she will continue to write the rest of it.
Julie's story is all the more important for me because the last time I saw Julie sing live on stage was - and still is - an important night I will never forget.
Julie was in town and singing songs from all her stage shows, films, and TV shows, with narrative. What could be better I thought.
Followed by some thought, I decided I wanted to attend the concert with my mother. We did not get along well. All of life was a battlefield. However, I thought attending Julie's concert would be a step in the right direction - as it proved to be. At least my mother would not be grieving the loss of my father and perhaps stop drinking for at least that one night. I was trying to get her out of a morbid state of mind.
When I asked my mother if she wanted to attend a concert featuring Julie Andrews, she said yes! I was so happy and relieved to get her outside her grief even if it were for only a few hours.
That night my mother listened to Julie sing from the heart and soul. Indeed, I do not think my mother took her eyes off Julie as she performed everything from 'Wouldn't It Be Loverly' to 'Burlington Bertie from Bow' to 'Jazz Hot' to 'The Hills are Alive'. I remember the beautiful ball gown Julie wore at the end of the show stunned my mother that she did not stop talking about it for weeks afterward. It was a night - a memory - I will treasure all my life. More importantly, it was a night I was glad to spend with my mother.
Many years after an unknown assailant murdered my mother, I saw the very same concert on PBS again. It was a repeat, which aired around the time I got ALS. At the time I did not know I had cancer as well. Choked with emotion, I recalled that one magical night with my mother and Julie's amazing performance. The memory is so clear in my mind that it has not left to this day.
As I continue to struggle to hang onto the best left in life, I felt it important to write this review.
Finally, for bringing my mother and I together for that one special night, I can never thank Julie enough. I humbly bow to Dame Julie for the simple gift of song and story.
As for this book, it is a great read for all of us really. For many of us, we can look back and wonder what we were doing at the same time. Then - start all over again tomorrow with a new outlook on life.
My family loved this book May 10, 2008
Having grown up to the Sound of Music, I was only disappointed that Julie Andrews has yet to tell that tale. We need installment number 2. Meanwhile she tells a deeply candid and really readable tale of her early years and her start in show business.
In an era where celebrity journalism and memoirs can be so vapid, this books stands out as a truly wonderful read. I was surprised by how much we have all enjoyed this.
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years May 9, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. I don't usually read autobiographies but I couldn't put this one down. It read like a great novel. Lots of interesting surprises.
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