We know her as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth and Essex, the betrayed woman in All About Eve, the lovelorn spinster in Now, Voyager. Few other actresses have achieved such memorable drama or kept audiences enthralled for more than five decades. She is, of course, the incomparable Bette Davis.
This book is written by the only person who could write it - B. D. Hyman, who tells us what it’s like to grow up the daughter of the world-famous star. We see Davis beset by private demons, struggling through her stormy marriage to Gary Merrill, obsessively attached to her only natural child, ruling household, family and friends with the same capricious strength that brought her to the pinnacle of her profession.
Hyman is frank and candid as she describes a conflicted, complicated mother-daughter relationship. But even when she touches upon the most painful subjects, Hyman writes out of an ever-present attempt to understand the real woman, portraying her mother with a perplexed affection and an engaging humour. In these fascinating pages, Bette Davis emerges as a character as riveting and unforgettable as any of the triumphant roles she has played.
