Product Description

Pearl Lowe has been a singer in a hugely successful pop group, a fashion model and a friend to some of the most famous people in the country. In the nineties when Britpop was in full swing and London was officially the coolest place on the planet, Pearl really did have it all. She was a beautiful woman with a glamorous career and a rock and roll husband she adored, as well as a growing family of gorgeous kids. Except, actually, the parties and the homelife were in terrible tension because Pearl was drinking and taking drugs to such excess that she wasn't sure she would survive. 

Pearl was a junkie before she discovered party drugs like ecstasy and cocaine. She managed to look after her kids in between enormous binges, but she knew she had a choice to make: confront the demons, get clean and have her life back, or give up and slip away further into addiction, illness, death. Pearl made her choice. These days she lives with her husband and children in the countryside and she has left the London lifestyle behind. But she isn't the kind of person who could ever give up on glamour - it's just that these days she designs her own line of beautiful lace dresses rather than killing herself slowly with booze and drugs. She is happy.

Pearl's story is a fascinating insight into a world that appears scintillating but is relentless in its destructiveness. It's also inspiring in its message that recovery is possible and sustainable, for everyone. (20080511)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42196 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 278 pages

Review
'Lifts the lid on what it's like to run with the Primrose Hill set ... Ultimately uplifting, it's a sobering read for anyone who finds Pete Doherty's lifestyle glamorous' (Cosmopolitan )

'Our book of the summer, the year, the century' (Guardian )

'Utterly compelling' (Sunday Times )

"horribly compelling" (Guardian )

'a poignantly self-flagellating inventory of her failures.'

(Observer )

'a remarkably open and candid account that acarries a message of hope and redemption at its core...' (Daily Express )

About the Author
Pearl Lowe was lead singer in Britpop band Powder. She was also infamously part of the Primrose Hill set along with Kate Moss, Sadie Frost and Jude Law. Since her recovery she lives in Hampshire with her partner Danny, of the band Supergrass, and their four children. She is now a fashion designer.

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Customer Reviews

Are they crazy?
I'm referring to my fellow reviewers comments at the bottom of the page. They've clearly read the synopsis and not the book and jumped to inaccurate conclusions. It's so easy to knock a book like this that could appear on the surface to be something shallow and self-indulgent - boasting of fun and frolics in a world most us only read about. But read it and you get a very different picture. A painfully honest (or so it seems) account of life as an addict. There's no glorifying it - she puts every sad encounter on the page ready for you, the reader, to absorb, appalled. Using when heavily pregnant? Not something anyone would want to be remembered for.

I have a very good friend who is currently fighting similar addictions but within the framework of a regular family unit. I gave this book to his partner and it's been a genuine eye opener - insights into what it truly feels like to be a slave to drugs, and how they fit within the hierarchy of a family you love.

An amazingly inspirational book from a very brave women who could have sold out her celeb pals to the tabloids, but instead offers her own mistakes on a plate for all to pick over.

Clear your schedule - you'll be gripped from start to finish
I thought I'd dip into this book and read it at a leisurely pace over the course of a few evenings. Wrong - from the moment I read the first chapter I couldn't put it down.

Pearl's account of her own journey through addiction is a page turner - she perfectly contrasts the superficial glitz of the Britpop era with a darker, at times harrowing personal story. It's no kiss and tell - instead you're presented with a no-holds barred, honest story of someone who lost their way but eventually had the determination and guts to tackle her troubles. The description of Pearl's meeting and ongoing relationship with Danny Goffey is heartwarming in parts, and there's also a fair few amusing anecdotes along the way that balance the more shocking parts. I loved it - give it a go!

Essential holiday reading - my book of the summer
There had been rumours that this book was going to be a kiss-and-tell of all the high jinx of the Primrose Hill set, but the reality is a much deeper, more interesting look at drug addiction told through the eyes of a Mother. There's some brutally honest parts - miscarrying on stage at Reading, using coke whilst pregnant. Pearl includes her entire story, warts and all, which I think is a very brave thing to do. She doesn't do the dirty on any of her so called `friends', but instead, through brutal honesty, gives hope and inspiration to anyone who's ever been affected by any form of addiction or has any friends or family who have been through something similar. This book deserves to do really well - think `Scar Tissue' but written from the perspective of a mother.