Munkey Diaries
Author: Jane Birkin
Format: Hardback, 158mm x 238mm, 520g, 320 pages
Published: Orion Publishing Co, United Kingdom, 2020
Jane Birkin - actor, singer, songwriter and model - attained international fame with her decade-long musical and personal relationship with Serge Gainsbourg, which featured their internationally controversial hit song 'Je t'aime...moi no plus'. She has also enjoyed a notable career as an actress in British and French cinema, including Blow-Up, Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun. And then there is the Birkin bag...
Throughout these years Jane has been keeping a diary: "I've been keeping a journal since I was eleven, writing it to my confidante, the stuffed monkey won in a tombola: Munkey. He has slept by my side, shared my life with John, Serge, Jacques, and been witness to every joy and sadness. Before my children arrived wreaking havoc on my life, I left Munkey in Serge's arms, in the casket where he lay, like a pharaoh. My monkey, protecting him in the after-life.As I re-read my journals, it seems obvious to me that we don't change. What I was twelve years old, I am today. Newspapers are obviously unfair, giving different versions of everything, but here, there is only my version. On principle, I haven't changed anything, and believe me, looking back, I would have preferred to have wiser reactions than I did . . ."We thought we knew nearly everything about Jane Birkin. Her book not only re-creates the flamboyant era of Swinging London and Saint-Germain-des-Pres in the 1970s, it also lets us into the everyday life of an exceptional woman.Jane Birkin was born in Marylebone in London in 1946. She captured French hearts when, aged 21 and the definition of London Sixties 'cool,' she took up with singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. She died in 2023.
Author: Jane Birkin
Format: Hardback, 158mm x 238mm, 520g, 320 pages
Published: Orion Publishing Co, United Kingdom, 2020
Jane Birkin - actor, singer, songwriter and model - attained international fame with her decade-long musical and personal relationship with Serge Gainsbourg, which featured their internationally controversial hit song 'Je t'aime...moi no plus'. She has also enjoyed a notable career as an actress in British and French cinema, including Blow-Up, Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun. And then there is the Birkin bag...
Throughout these years Jane has been keeping a diary: "I've been keeping a journal since I was eleven, writing it to my confidante, the stuffed monkey won in a tombola: Munkey. He has slept by my side, shared my life with John, Serge, Jacques, and been witness to every joy and sadness. Before my children arrived wreaking havoc on my life, I left Munkey in Serge's arms, in the casket where he lay, like a pharaoh. My monkey, protecting him in the after-life.As I re-read my journals, it seems obvious to me that we don't change. What I was twelve years old, I am today. Newspapers are obviously unfair, giving different versions of everything, but here, there is only my version. On principle, I haven't changed anything, and believe me, looking back, I would have preferred to have wiser reactions than I did . . ."We thought we knew nearly everything about Jane Birkin. Her book not only re-creates the flamboyant era of Swinging London and Saint-Germain-des-Pres in the 1970s, it also lets us into the everyday life of an exceptional woman.Jane Birkin was born in Marylebone in London in 1946. She captured French hearts when, aged 21 and the definition of London Sixties 'cool,' she took up with singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. She died in 2023.