This is the story of the actress who became a Hollywood legend by winning the coveted role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, and whose circle included both theatrical and political celebrities, from Winston Churchill to Noel Coward, John Gielgud, and Marlon Brando. But behind the dazzling exterior lay the sinister shadow of another Vivien Leigh—a shadow which pursued her throughout her aristocratic upbringing, her frustrating first marriage, her tempestuous romance with Laurence Olivier, and her meteoric rise to stardom. As The New York Times wrote of the hardcover edition, “To read her story is to be inspired with pity and terror.”

To read her story is to be inspired by pity and terror. -- . * The New York Times Book Review *
If Vivien Leigh was captivating on the stage and on film, she's doubly so in this perceptive and moving portrait. * Publishers Weekly *

Anne Edwards is the author of several bestselling biographies of notable figures, including film stars Judy Garland and Katharine Hepburn, as well as Queen Mary and Gone with the Wind novelist Margaret Mitchell. A fastidious researcher and accomplished writer, Edwards received a Pulitzer prize nomination for her book Early Reagan: The Rise of an American Hero. Her memoir, Leaving Home (2012) is available from Scarecrow Press. She lives in Beverly Hills, California.