Hilary and Jackie: The True Story of Two Sisters Who Shared a Passion, a Madness and a Man

by Hilary du Pré and Piers du Pré

Book Overview

From the moment Jacqueline du Pr first held a cello at the age of five, it was clear she had an extraordinary gift. At sixteen, when she made her professional debut, she was hailed as one of the world's most talented and exciting musicians. But ten years later, she stopped playing virtually overnight, when multiple sclerosis removed the feeling in her hands just before a concert. It took fourteen more years for the crippling disease to take its final...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345432711
• ISBN13: 9780345432711
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Ballantine Group
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Respectable but does not give the key to the personality

The brother and sister of the great cellist Jacqueline du Pre tell her life story. Du Pre who died tragically young was a cellist at the highest level. Her marriage to the conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim , and their musical friendship with Zubin Mehta, Pinhas Zukerman and others put her in the center of the music world's attention .This book tells the story of her life but somehow does not give us a sense of who she most deeply was . The legend tells of her beauty and her genius and her tragic death. And the brother and sister seem fair in describing their own complicated relationship with her in which they often played a fostering and supportive role. Perhaps the real inner life of Du Pre is not to be sought in the kind of biographical work written here, or for that matter in any literary work, but in the playing in her recordings where she was most alive. In one passage of the book she does speak about the way playing takes her above into another realm of joy. And by all accounts she was a tremendously passionate and powerful cellist. There are even critics who say that she played more of herself, than she did of the score before her. And that in repertoire she was not broad and innovative enough. In any case it seems universally agreed by musical cognescenti that she at her best was at the very highest level. I am no great maven here but I too can admit to being quite moved at the hearing of her playing of the Elgar Cello Concerto. The story of her marriage to Barenboim, their whirlwind life, its break- up is also told here in a very concise and limited form. Barenboim the bon vivant, the tireless promoter and player somehow may have been a bit too fast for the English country girl who according to her sister needed nine hours of sleep and not the four or five Barenboim did. In any case this part of the book is devastatingly sad as of course is the end. The brother Piers and the sister Hilary who wrote this book truly cared for and tried to help their sister. This book is part of their effort to keep her memory alive in the best way possible.

A Story Beyond Words

This is a very personal and very sad book about the memories of English cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as told by her brother and sister Piers and Hilary du Pré. From her childhood, to her deathbed, this book will move you to tears every time you read it. I highly recommened this book to anyone who is a musician (myself included) or anyone with passion for music.

A story beyond words

This book is a very personal and very sad book about the memoires of Jacqueline du Pré, the English Cellist, told by her brother and sister Piers and Hilary du Pré. From childhood, to her death bed this very intimate book will move you to tears. I highly recommend this book to any who is a musician (myself included) or anyone who has a passion for the arts.

Tragic and Extraordinary

I think I read this book because I wanted to be a cellist. And when I finished reading it, I felt like a cellist. Jacqueline du Pre was humoristic, mysterious, and a genius above all. Some have gone to call her selfish and spoiled but I don't think she was either of those. She lived her life like how her famous Elgar Cello Concerto was played: Full of misery, depression, and lonliness. All who say she was just spoiled do not know what it is like to be seperated from everybody else by a rare gift. It's like they love you but they don't wish to ever get close to you. This book does go into every detail of her life, and all readers should be prepared for tears. But the result of knowing the life of a brilliant person is very worth it.

Excellent book

I saw the movie and abolutely loved it, so I bought the book and read it within one day. It's one of the best books I ever read. Excellent!!!!