No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf by Carolyn Burke

By Daniel D'Addario, The New York Observer (Spring Arts Preview: Top 10 Books)
March 8, 2011

Is the Edith Piaf moment still going? The actress Marion Cotillard, in two movies — the biopic La Vie en Rose and the Piaf-scented Inception — has kept the legend alive, and now passes the torch of Piafophilia to Carolyn Burke. Ms. Burke, who's written biographies of poet Mina Loy and photographer Lee Miller, has to face down a far more (over-?) exposed subject in this volume. Early reviews, though, indicate that Ms. Burke debunks Piaf's self-created myths and reveals some untold stories. Anything fresher than that familiar origin story, or with more subtlety and shades of possible meaning than a performance by Ms. Cotillard, will be welcome.