Handling Edna

Book excerpt: In this unauthorised biography of Dame Edna Everage, acquired for an unprecedented advance and in spectacular secrecy, her long-time manager and the man who was there from the very beginning, Barry Humphries, takes a behind-the-scenes, no-holds-barred look at an icon of our times. Superstar, swami, confidante and advisor to royalty, Hollywood stars and international political leaders, Dame Edna's life has catapulted her from her humble Moonee Ponds beginnings as a suburban housewife to the most elite social and artistic circles in the world. Who would have thought that this modest Australian woman could achieve so much from London to Louisiana to New York to Tokyo? Who could have anticipated her global fame? Barry Humphries certainly didn't.Dame Edna may not like this book but Barry knows everything - the who, the why and the where - and in this much-anticipated work, for the first time, he reveals all. This exhaustively researched account of Edna's roller-coaster life is essential reading for scholars, female achievers, fans of Dame Edna and those who feel that behind the fairytale career lies a darker and more sinister story...