Lesley-Ann Jones - 'Love Of My Life: The Life and Loves of Freddie Mercury'

Lesley-Ann Jones' latest book, Love Of My Life: The Life and Loves of Freddie Mercury is not her first biography on Freddie Mercury, however it is different to her previous works because this one tells his life around his loves rather than featuring them as background characters and features in his extraordinary life - which is, I have found, what the vast majority of other biographies do.

I always love LAJ's books because they get so up close and personal to the subject, and they always hold my attention - I never find myself boring of a particular point in the subject's life, or of the book as a whole because Lesley-Ann writes in a way that is not only interesting, but is fast paced and proactive without being too quick or too loose - she always includes a lot of detail and many alternative views on a situation. I like this, because it gives 360 vision on whomever the book is about and allows me to form a better, more complete opinion of the subject. More than this, however, it is clear that Lesley-Ann really cares about what she is writing about and that she is passionate about writing as a whole; I think this is important in writing a book, and firmly believe that it is clear to a reader when the author has not put their heart and soul, sweat and tears into a book. I think that to write a book - non fiction or otherwise - is to write a piece of yourself into the story which you are telling. Lesley-Ann Jones met Freddie Mercury on several occasions, and also met some of the other subjects of her previous books; notably David Bowie. She weaves these encounters into her recount of whose life she is telling, making a book relatable and very obvious to the reader that it is something which the author is completely enveloped in and has been for many years.

When I interviewed Lesley-Ann in 2020 for this blog, she gave a crucial piece of advice; "you should only write about individuals you feel passionate about, whose music you love or whose work you admire, and who you genuinely want to get to know. Don't do it for the money, but because you genuinely want to... because the thought of not doing it fills you with dread." Having written about Freddie Mercury first in 1997 and then writing a second biography later on, it is clear that he is a subject close to her heart - she followed her own advice - and now she has released another work on him, which is entirely different to any that she has done before. This is the story of Freddie's loves; Queen, his family, Mary Austin, Jim Hutton, and all the rest - and how they were major factors in his life.

But there is still one question, and I believe we will never have the answer to it...