[.ca] J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: The real story behind ... (ISBN 0300098227)

The Lost Man-Boy:
Barrie must be one of the 20th C's most under-rated and misinterpreted writers. This beautiful and haunting book helps interpret his writing, especially that maudlin classic of hopeless nostalgia Peter Pan. Look in this book beyond the fragile elegance of the Edwardian world, and the beautiful children frozen forever in time by Barrie's camera and there's tragedy. Everyone, Arthur, Michael, Jack and especially Barrie himself comes to a sticky end. It well illustrates that old morality tale: be very careful about what you wish for -it may come true. I agree it's a tragedy this book has slipped out of print.

The Lost Boys Return:
I read this book when it was first released and then had to go to a dealer selling used books to track down a copy to buy. It's a beautifully written book and a haunting real life story. The icing on the cake of the reissue of the book would be the release of the BBC miniseries on video or better yet, DVD.

Sad and Beautiful Story:
Wonderful news ... this new edition makes available a book that's been out-of print for much too long. Birkin completed the book when adapting the story of J M Barrie for a BBC mini-series, The Lost Boys. As well as writing Peter Pan, Barrie was in his time, regarded as a playwright the equal of George Bernard Shaw. That his work quickly fell out of favour may be due to its pathos and close relation to Barrie's own life. I stumbled across this book over ten years ago, and its poignancy, honestly and power have been with me ever since. It centres around the Llewelyn Davies family, which became the inspiration for Peter Pan, but went on to have an even more profound impact upon the life of the melancholic Scottish playwright. As one of the protagonists later wrote, the masses of photographs (extensively reproduced in the book) seem to foretell the whole sad story. Indeed, Birkin's strength is allowing the story to unfold through letters, images and quotation from Barrie's surprisingly autobiographical work. What emerges is the finest of biographies. Peter Pan acquires a whole new sad significance in the light of this book, and it captures the fading Edwardian twighlight exquisitely. Upon the death of the last of the Llewelyn Davies boys (after first publication), the majority of the material used in the book was bequeathed to Birkin, a ringing endorsement of his sensitive and perceptive retelling of the story. I cannot recommend this book too highly.

Excellent book, will move you...:
J.M. Barrie is truly a genius and Birkin has captured this genius with all of its pain and dysfunction in this great biography. This new large paperback version of Birkin's book is excellent. It contains all of the material from the original hardcover including a lot of photographs. This newest version also has an updated forward and provides a web link to the Author's full collection of Barrie writings and photographs. I originally read the mass market size, paperback of this biography and was very pleased. However, I now realize how much I had missed, in terms of photographs and reproductions. This newest version is a real must-have for those interested in the life and work of Barrie. Birkin does an extraordinary job of showing us Barrie's life and work and most importantly his relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family. He does all of this without passing judgement, which in my view is the true test of a good biographer. Too often history and biography falls prey to post-modern sensibilities and correctness. This story is touching and sad. Read this biography and then re-read some of the classic Barrie novels, they will come to life for you. One of my best reads of the year, highly recommended!

Absolutely Haunting -- Stranger and More Moving than Fiction:
I first read this book roughly ten years ago. It is still one of my all-time favorites. The beautiful and tragic lives of the Llewellyn-Davies family, and their beauty caught in intimate pictures, reminds one of the Romanovs. This book is a very loving, close portrait of the relationship between JM Barrie--the playwright of Peter Pan (and numerous other plays and books)and an Edwardian family composed of five charming, beautiful, intelligent boys. The boys' parents (one of whom is the daughter of George du Maurier \oauthor of Trilby\c -- the boys' cousin is Daphne du Maurier) both die young, leaving them orphans in the care of JM Barrie. The book contains astonishingly beautiful photographs, diary entries, letters, etc. The truth of the story gives it a charm and tragedy mere fiction lacks. I can't recommend it highly enough.