Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborelli

 If Catherine married Heathcliff, I imagine that they would have been like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor - drinking, swearing, throwing things at each other, and passionately making up. In one case, a staff member on a film went up to their room, where objects were flying all over the place and decided to ‘get the hell out of there! Fifteen minutes later, Burton and Taylor walked out of the room holding hands. Like Catherine and Heathcliff’s love, it was toxic, but they truly were soulmates.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in The Sandpiper.

Their affair and their two marriages is the most interesting part of this book, I think, but it is a sympathetic look at Taylor’s tempestuous personal life, and personality. Yes, she could be a real diva —selfish, entitled, annoying, and immoral. However, she was also down-to-earth, generous to a fault, and extremely big-hearted, as exemplified by her devotion to the AIDS cause. She also had courage, and resilience. Her illnesses and injuries make harrowing reading! It’s not the best book to read, if you want a good analysis of her career. I’ve read that Alexander Walker’s biography is better for reading about her films. My favourites were the Tennessee Williams ones, and they suited her melodramatic personality. 

Two things about Elizabeth stood out for me —her adoption of a severely disabled baby, and her refusal to have an abortion when she was in terrible pain with a back injury, in spite of being warned against having the baby by the doctors.

This quote by Elizabeth Taylor will stay with me: ‘You just do it,’ she said. ‘You force yourself to get up. You force yourself to put one foot before the other, and God damn it, you just refuse to let it get to you. You fight. You cry. You curse. Then you go about the business of living. That’s how I’ve done it. There’s no other way’.

Amazingly, my husband bought this at the pound shop in Exeter years ago! I read it for the TBR ‘26 in 26 Challenge.

Whether you are a big fan or not, Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, which is loosely based on Taylor and Burton’s love story, is a wonderful book. 

Elizabeth Taylor by Taylor Swift