"Garden of Dreams is a well-researched, sensitive and highly readable biography that gives Signoret her due. DeMaio documents the complications of her life without getting lost in detail. Particularly illuminating are the sections devoted to the war years, revealing Signoret caught in the contradictions of the era. When her father left the family without means, Signoret turned to the only contact she knew for a job, publisher Jean Luchaire, father of her school friend and fellow actress Corinne. The fact that the Luchaires were collaborationists sat awkwardly with her leftwing circle and her lack of involvement in the Resistance would later haunt her.
DeMaio also adeptly takes the reader through the Monroe affair and the startling lengths to which gossip columnist Hedda Hopper went in her unsuccessful attempt to prevent Signoret, as a 'leftie', from getting her Oscar….
…DeMaio's book offers an up-to-date, comprehensive and entertaining biography of one of French cinema's most fascinating film stars. It will please those new to Signoret as well as her existing fans."
DeMaio also adeptly takes the reader through the Monroe affair and the startling lengths to which gossip columnist Hedda Hopper went in her unsuccessful attempt to prevent Signoret, as a 'leftie', from getting her Oscar….
…DeMaio's book offers an up-to-date, comprehensive and entertaining biography of one of French cinema's most fascinating film stars. It will please those new to Signoret as well as her existing fans."