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Speaking for Myself: My Life from Liverpool to Downing Street | 
 enlarge | Author: Cherie Blair
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy New: $15.00
You Save: $15.00 (50%)
New (38) Used (13) Collectible (2) from $12.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 19730
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 5.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0316031453
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.0859092
EAN: 9780316031455
ASIN: 0316031453
Publication Date: October 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
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Product Description
Even if she hadn't married Tony Blair, Cherie'sstory would have been amazing. Abandoned by her actorfather, she overcame obstacles to become one of the UK's most successful barristers. But when Labour took power in 1997, she faced new challenges: her husband was the first Prime Minister in recent history with a young family, and Cherie was the first PM's wife with a serious career.
Now, she gives a complete account of her own life--an astonishing journey for a woman whose unconventional childhood was full of drama and who grew up with a fierce sense of justice. In her autobiography she reveals for the first time what it was like to combine life as a working mother with life married to the Prime Minister. She writes about her encounters with scores of foreign leaders and her friendships with Presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as with Hillary and Laura. And she offers inside details of her relationships with the royals, including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Princess Diana.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Great read! December 12, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
What a good book, and a the author is someone I have been intrigued with for years, and now she writes in a way that makes me appreciate her and all she has done. She is warm yet still a tad shy, which helps explain why I originally found her a tad put offish, because she wasnt very vocal when married to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The book also gives a wonderful view into how British society and the public in general saw her when he came to be Prime Minister. While Margaret Thatcher had certainly been a force and working woman, Ms Blair was different because she not only was a working lawyer, but a working Mom.
More than a wife.... December 9, 2008
Reviewed by Danelle Drake for Reader Views (12/08)
Cherie has given her readers an amazing life story. Primarily being raised by her grandparents had both a positive and negative influence on the young Cherie and her siblings. Her father abandoned his family, choosing himself and a career in the limelight as an actor. Her mother worked very hard to provide for her children. Although her father was successful, he chose not to support his first family and went on to make himself a new one. Her grandparents helped in all the ways they could and had a great effect on Cherie as she grew into a driven and successful young lady.
Meeting Tony Blair, who would one day become the Prime Minister of England, at an interview where they were both competing for entrance scholarships to Lincoln's Inn, a very competitive relationship was formed. From that point on their lives mingled until they became entwined and eventually led them to becoming a family.
As life would have it you sometimes get what you want. With political aspirations the couple shared a life in the spotlight that was not always kind or positive. Sharing her challenges such as raising children when the entire country is watching, Cherie shows raw emotion which sometimes leaves you asking if she wants you to feel sympathy for her situation. Life is hard, but in some way life is hard for everyone. Things don't always go as planned, but things don't always go as planned for everyone. Each of us has our own challenges. Regardless of our financial or personal situation life is a challenge. Our purpose is to live it. Cherie Blair is a very blessed individual who has experienced an incredible life. She shares this wonderful life with us in "Speaking for Myself: My Life from Liverpool to Downing Street." Please do not leave with the impression that she is just a spoiled person, look over the selfishness and give her cheer's for the great strength she possesses and drive which led her to achieve greatness.
Translated into US English for Kindle November 25, 2008
Others have written excellent reviews of this book, which I endorse. I am reading it on my Kindle and realized pretty quickly that it had been re-written for the US market in my edition. I don't quite understand why - US readers are quite able to understand English English, so what's the point? They even left Harry Potter alone in US editions, written for children. It's very irritating to read the well-educated Ms Blair's grammar changing to US English, so be warned before you purchase it in electronic form.
 A deluge of facts, but little coherence November 16, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I didn't really have a strong opinion of Cherie Blair when I bought this book; I bought it to gain insight into the Blair years. Having read it, I find her an amazingly naive and almost simple person, particularly surprising in contrast to her brilliant and charismatic husband, former UK PM Tony Blair.
Mrs Blair is not a gifted writer and the book plods along at a chronological, non-analytical pace, overly laden with minutiae of her past, starting even before her conception. While British "first ladies" have never had the prominent role of their US counterparts, Mrs Blair seems astounded that even the simplest of duties are asked of her. Nor are events given any particular emphasis in how they must have affected her life. While she isn't humorless, nor does she demonstrate much wit, usually in abundance in British books.
Nevertheless, I liked Cherie; she seems an honest person, deeply in love with her husband, family and her legal practice benefiting the underpriveleged. Her book falls quite short, however, in telling us about the life of one of Britian's most notable political families.
An engaging person tells a frank story October 28, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I knew relatively little about Cherie Blair before going to her book signing and purchasing her book. I found it a quick read and remarkably frank for a person who has been in public life. She doesn't hold back on very much -- she discusses her methods of birth control, her exasperation with the press, her religious ups and downs, pretty much everything.
Clearly, she and Tony had and still have an excellent marriage and a relationship of equals to a large extent. The comparison with the Clintons (who were friends of the Blairs' and whom Blair discusses in the book) is instructive.
I found Cherie Blair to be a woman of excellent instincts who was sometimes overwhelmed by events. She is far more family-oriented than I had expected to find; although she was a path-breaker in her role as a woman barrister and Queen's Counsel in England, she is deeply devoted to her husband and children.
All in all, a very enjoyable book. It could have been shorter if she had left out some of the details of parliamentary elections and background political maneuvers.
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