AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW - MAY 2008
'When Nellie met Melba' by Michael Shmith - in this months Australian Book Review (May 2008 p.46-7).
"Ann Blainey's thoroughly researched, excellently written and beguilingly human biography of Nellie Melba......"
"Part of the charm of Blainey's account is the balance she maintains between the various aspects of Melba's character. The author never disregards Melba's musicianship, which was considerable, or her technique, which was formidable, instead, she allows these qualities to coexist with the complexities often eclipsed by fame or modified (even completely changed) by the scuttlebutt. This is something of an art-restorer about Ann Blainey: she quietly and deftly, without putting herself in the frame, removes the patina of previous biographers or historical recollections, to recover layers that make one view the result in a different light"
