For more than a quarter century, Philip Norman's internationally bestselling Shout! has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles. Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on pre-viously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon that is ever likely to be published. This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near?secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extra-ordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore?his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi; his allegedly wasted school and student days; the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney; his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist; his forays into painting and literature; his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy, and drugs. The book's numerous key informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, Sean Lennon?whose moving reminiscence reveals his father as never before?and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John. Honest and unflinching, as John himself would wish, Norman gives us the whole man in all his endless contradictions?tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naive, vulnerable and insecure?and reveals how the mother who gave him away as a toddler haunted his mind and his music for the rest of his days.
'Reading this book brings the John Lennon I knew vividly back to life.' Bill Harry, founder of Mersey Beat
'This is the best Lennon book so far' The Word
'Norman has written about Lennon twice before but he has uncovered much new material in his research for this impressive and highly readable book... It is greatly to Norman's credit as a biographer that he does justice to all of (Lennon's legacy) in a book whose 854 pages simply fly by.' Sunday Times Culture
'Can there be more to find out (about Lennon)? And, can Philip Norman, the author of the new 300,000 word John Lennon: The Life, be serious when he tells The Word magazine, "Lennon deserves a real biography, as if he were John Keats or Mahatma Ghandi. Not a pop person but a major towering presence in his century?" The answer to both questions is empahatically yes...And yes, Norman has unearthed some startling things.' The Independent
'Although more than 800 pages long, this book is nicely paced, well researched and will not disappoint.'
Glasgow Evening Times
'Reading this book brings the John Lennon I knew vividly back to life.'
Bill Harry, founder of Mersey Beat
'This is the first serious Lennon biography for 20 years and unlike Albert Goldman's bilious effort in the 80s, Norman's style is trustworthy, contextual, and plainly told, yet with enough splashes of historical colour...'
The Times
'A well-written book and almost everything you could want to know [about Lennon] is in there.'
Oxford Times
The New Statesman called the book 'magnetic'.
'Philip Norman's style is compelling', Irish Times
'Norman's mesmerising biography'. Irish Examiner
'Meticulously researched, compulsively readable book.'
Sunday Times Culture magazine
'The Rock biography of the Year.'
Metro
'The best all-round Lennon biography.'
Sunday Herald Magazine
'This is the best Lennon book so far' The Word
'Norman has written about Lennon twice before but he has uncovered much new material in his research for this impressive and highly readable book... It is greatly to Norman's credit as a biographer that he does justice to all of (Lennon's legacy) in a book whose 854 pages simply fly by.' Sunday Times Culture
'Can there be more to find out (about Lennon)? And, can Philip Norman, the author of the new 300,000 word John Lennon: The Life, be serious when he tells The Word magazine, "Lennon deserves a real biography, as if he were John Keats or Mahatma Ghandi. Not a pop person but a major towering presence in his century?" The answer to both questions is empahatically yes...And yes, Norman has unearthed some startling things.' The Independent
'Although more than 800 pages long, this book is nicely paced, well researched and will not disappoint.'
Glasgow Evening Times
'Reading this book brings the John Lennon I knew vividly back to life.'
Bill Harry, founder of Mersey Beat
'This is the first serious Lennon biography for 20 years and unlike Albert Goldman's bilious effort in the 80s, Norman's style is trustworthy, contextual, and plainly told, yet with enough splashes of historical colour...'
The Times
'A well-written book and almost everything you could want to know [about Lennon] is in there.'
Oxford Times
The New Statesman called the book 'magnetic'.
'Philip Norman's style is compelling', Irish Times
'Norman's mesmerising biography'. Irish Examiner
'Meticulously researched, compulsively readable book.'
Sunday Times Culture magazine
'The Rock biography of the Year.'
Metro
'The best all-round Lennon biography.'
Sunday Herald Magazine







