How to Be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Audrey Hepburn, Robert Wolders, Roman Holiday (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A breezy but sometimes insightful read, this hybrid mini-biography/female empowerment manual goes down like a soothing tonic for the 21st-century woman attempting to juggle life, career, family and, if there’s time, fashion. The waifish star and muse of Givenchy, Audrey could be quite the sage as well, turning out insightful phrases about working hard, living well and aging gracefully. Her simple, cautiously optimistic approach to life came as a result of her childhood in occupied Holland during World War II. The daughter of Baroness Ella van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston, Audrey left Amsterdam for London as a teen to study ballet. Her dance aspirations, however, morphed into a Hollywood career. Hellstern arranges each chapter as instructive vignettes, with headings like "Be genuine," "Live without regret" "Listen well" and even "Get plenty of vitamin C"; these are followed by stories, anecdotes and quotes from Audrey and her admirers, and punctuated with b&w photos, both enchanting candid shots and glamorous stills. Enduring the challenges of womanhood-miscarriages, divorce and the balancing act of career and family-Audrey Hepburn exuded dignity and humility through her successes and failures. As Hellstern styles it, she ate what she wanted but still watched her figure, and devoted herself to global causes without becoming political. "I could never be cynical," Hepburn claimed. "I wouldn’t dare. I’d roll over and die before that." 68 b/w photos.
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Product Description

"Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book and remembering— because you can’t take it all in at once."
—Audrey Hepburn

On many occasions, she was approached to pen her autobiography, the definitive book of Audrey Hepburn, yet she never agreed. A beloved icon who found success as an actress, a mother and an humanitarian, Audrey Hepburn perfected the art of gracious living.

More philosophy than biography, How to Be Lovely revisits the many interviews Audrey gave over the years, allowing us to hear her voice directly on universal topics of concern to women the world over: careers, love lives, motherhood and relationships. Enhanced by rarely seen photographs, behind-the-scenes stories, and insights from the friends who knew her well, How to Be Lovely uncovers the real Audrey, in her own words.

While she would have been the last to say so, Audrey Hepburn was an expert in the art of being a woman. How to Be Lovely imparts whatever wisdom and insight she found along the way to the millions who grew up, or will grow up, wanting to be just like her.

Published to coincide with Audrey Hepburn’s would-be seventy-fifth birthday, How to Be Lovely offers a rare glimpse into the woman behind the mystique and the definitive guide to living genuinely with glamour and grace.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (June 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525948236
• ISBN-13: 978-0525948230
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,103 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Guide to Loveliness, Both Inside and Out., January 10, 2006

By	Reviews No More - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life (Hardcover)

A lot of people misuse the term "hero." Lots of people think it's an athlete, an actor, or a singer. I regard Audrey Hepburn as my hero and a great role model. She was a rare and unusually timeless beauty with her gamine looks and a gorgeous accent, often mistaken as British, that also belied part of her time in Nazi occupied Holland. With the grace of a dancer and a princess to add to her intoxicating manner of speech, she had consistently excellent taste in clothes, impeccable hairstyles, and an approach to living that more people in this world would do well to adhere to.

Hepburn isn't a hero because of her time on screen; that's just an admirable sort of glamorous display. She fought the resistance as a brave young girl with her mother during WWII, helping the allies escape to freedom. Later in her life, when her career as an actress had more or less played itself out, she took her fame and used it to help give aid to children of third world countries who were starving as she and her fellow Dutchmen had all those years earlier. She was generous, humble, uncomplicated, and beautiful beyond the physical sense. Sure, she chain smoked and was insecure, she had that one crooked tooth and insisted she had a square face, but her physical beauty came from the simple brightness inside of her that was often illuminated by those large, exotic brown eyes. Je ne sais quoi, indeed! Audrey was a woman who knew how to be the consummate woman by keeping her approach to life simple and uncomplicated, yet managing to make people place her on a pedestal of goddess-like status. That is a gift few people possess, but she was able to utilize it with seemingly little work. Melissa Hellstern's book takes several quotes by Hepburn and friends, lots of great b&w photos, and turns them into something of a positive handbook to help women, regardless of any age, learn to possess simple, optimistic, life-affirming class.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect book to give, June 15, 2004

By	Mindy S. Peele (McLean, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This is the perfect book to give for birthdays, hostess gifts, Christmas, Mother's day, graduation, or any special event in a woman's life. I sent it home with 15 ladies who attended a baby shower, and it has inspired several Audrey "film-festivals." Her thoughts on how to carry oneself with style, dignity and grace will translate to any generation. "How to be Lovely" should be on every woman's night stand.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Inside and Out, October 4, 2004

By	Avid Reader (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

When I received this book as a birthday gift, I was delighted because I love the old Audrey Hepburn movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's. But I was most impressed with was the quality of Hepburn's words. She was one smart, funny and kind person. Now, I am buying copies for all of the teenagers I know as holiday gifts so that they can also be inspired by her. Not only was Hepburn gorgeous on the outside (the many pictures are fabulous), but also on the inside. A real life role model for any age. Highly recommended.