Piaf: A Biography

I have read all the books on Edith Piaf I could find. and this is by far the best. All the other biographies told you about the woman, this one lets you know her. Great read.

With the current interest in Edith's Piaf's life due to the film La Vie En Rose, many people will want to know more about her. You can't do better than Simone Berteaut's book. They were companions for almost every moment of Piaf's life, and it's a pretty amazing and unbelievable story. Berteaut renders every moment with detail, and much love for her friend mixed with healthy skepticism. There are many, many interesting tales that you'd never get from the film. I especially liked the occupation period, with Piaf singing to French POW's in the German stalags while her secretary smuggled photos of prisoners to the Resistance to make fake ID papers. A very compelling read, start to finish. In contrast, I would avoid the Margaret Crossland biography which is dry, abbreviated, not the account of an intimate and rather sour grapes in her dismissal of Berteaut. Either Berteaut knew Piaf inside and out and rendered her accurately, or is one of the most imaginative fiction writers of the 20th century. I'm inclined to the first possibility of the two.

.... On ne sait jamais, mais la version de simone berteaux de la vie de Piaf parait incroyable mais vrai...Qui a connu Piaf si longtemps et si bien? Momone etait la jusque a la fin .... meprise', mais la' pour connaitre de pres la derniere nuit vivee' de piaf. Pourquoi on la meprise' si farouchement Les deux livres de simone berteaux nous intrigent.A connaitre les divers visages de Paris a ce temps ces deux livres de simone berteaux nous ouvrent les yieux. Pourait-on inventer des histoires tellement intimes sans connaitre bien ces caracteres ou savoir de tres pres les faits?On ne sait jamais..... Si seulement Momone nous pourrait commenter sur sa vie et celle de Edith Piaf aujourd'hui.

probablement la biographie la plus touchante et la plus véridique que j'ai lu (et j'en ai lu....).Simone Berteaut réussi à travers son récit à faire revivre Édith Piaf et à nous faire ressentir la vrai vie de cette légende de la chanson. L'écriture exceptionnellement réaliste de Simone B. donne un côté extremement réaliste au récit. À lire absolument