In these days of hero worship for some spotty youth who has appeared upon the incorrectly named 'reality TV', it is difficult to think of truly great artists as ordinary human beings. This book is a wonderful dose of reality outside quotation marks.

Beth Britten was Benjamin's sister and, whilst inevitably, Ben's work is mentioned, this book concentrates on Benjamin Britten the man. It is written with love but also, with honesty. With the exception of Jesus, nobody is perfect, and some questionable traits can be seen in this biography but, the overwhelming impression is of a pretty good egg. It is refreshing to read a biography that doesn't push the marvellous nature of a musicians work and sensationalise areas of a life that were a little outside the social norm. Beth does not try to hide Benjamin's homosexuality, but equally, it is treated as a fact, not a gaudy selling point.

Beth Britten is no great author, but somehow, the book is the better for that fact. She presents clear lucid reminiscences of their childhood and the time they spent together as adults and intersperses the narrative with letters from

Other biographies may contain more detail as to the reasons for a certain piece to have been written, but I defy anyone to produce a more pleasant picture of Britten, or to make the man more alive. ( )