For The Three of Us:
'In this memoir she describes her eccentric, dangerous, wonderful bohemian parents…Blackburn emerged from this turmoil as a fine writer, and this book is full of understanding and reconciliation' - Margaret Drabble, New Statesman
'This memoir [has] a warmth and love it’s hard to imagine could have been possible… a work of art in itself: a careful weaving in and out of personal memories and present pain to create something remarkable' - Herald
'An unnerving book about manipulation and loss … and about the complicated burdens families inflict on one another down through the generations. As a literary memoir of a lost childhood , it is remarkable as much for its candour as its craftsmanship' - The Sunday Times
For With Billie:
Often books about jazz musicians make the mistake of
over-focusing on the music. Blackburn is more interested in Billie as a person'
Mike Figgis, Guardian
'This is a raw, true book that evokes not just the life of the great singer Billie Holiday but an entire jazz era.... Blackburn's compelling tale is of whores, drug-pushers, bent policemen and crooked lawyers as well as brilliant musicians, and she brings alive everything she touches' - George Walden, Mail on Sunday
'This is a really marvellous book, the most uninhibitedly intimate portrayal ever of the short, hard life and overall musical triumph of Lady Day...With Billie vividly reflects the chaos that Billie Holiday was born into and only rarely escaped from' - Patrick Skene Catling, Spectator
'Julia Blackburn...has contributed much to the legacy of a remarkable human being' - Stuart Nicholson, New Statesman