Absolutely, Joanna Lumley
Absolutely, Joanna Lumley
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

Absolutely
The bestselling memoir from the iconic national treasure

Author: Joanna Lumley

Narrator: Joanna Lumley

Unabridged: 2 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/11/2024


Synopsis

'Mischievous and measured, Joanna Lumley gives us a remarkable portrait of a groovy life'
The Times

'Immensely fun'
Evening Standard

Joanna Lumley is one of Britain's undisputed national treasures, who has lived many lives: a single mum; a voiceover artist; a TV presenter; an author; a former model and Bond girl; a human rights activist for Survival International and the Gurkha Justice Campaign; and as an iconic, award-winning actor, best known for her roles in timeless shows like Absolutely Fabulous and The New Avengers.

In Absolutely, Joanna tells her story, from the very beginning up until the present day, in her own glamorous, wickedly funny style.

'Captures perfectly the mixture of poshness and larkiness that has captivated audiences'
Daily Mail

'Her beauty does not fade and her unquenchable spirit for adventure seems more apparent than ever'
Daily Express

About Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lumley was born in post-war Kasmir, the daughter of a major in the 6th Gurkha Rifles. Raised in the south of England, she is a former model and actress, best known for her roles in THE NEW AVENGERS, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS and SENSITIVE SKIN. Her recent credits include the stage play THE LION IN WINTER, Martin Scorsese's film THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and PADDINGTON 2.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Caroline on May 13, 2021

Lumley is understandably one of the UK's national treasures, but I almost relegated this to the dnf pile. The initial part of the book is full of mutual back patting amongst the glitterati of Lumley's modelling and acting career, which I found extremely boring. But then we started a new chapter and......more

Goodreads review by Bill on December 27, 2016

Way back in October 1976, at the age of 12, I saw a brand new TV series celled The New Avengers. The first episode had great action, humour, a gripping plot & the gorgeous Joanna Lumley as Purdey. Now, forty years later, I picked up this wonderful book by the lady herself. Lumley has kept huge amoun......more

Goodreads review by Jim on September 11, 2018

I’ve been a fan of Joanna Lumley since she began her stint as Purdey on THE NEW AVENGERS. I had previously read and enjoyed her books, NO ROOM FOR SECRETS and STARE BACK AND SMILE: MEMOIRS, so I knew a fair amount about her life when beginning this one. The draw of ABSOLUTELY: A MEMOIR was its disti......more

Goodreads review by Barry on July 15, 2022

This is both a photographic journey, autobiography and memoir rolled into one. Like looking through someone's personal scrapbook while they tell you about the circumstances of the pictures and tell stories about their life. Lumley has had a fascinating life from a childhood in India and Tibet to an......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on February 06, 2025

This is a lovely biography by this wonderful actress. In it, she covers her long career, detailing many of the projects she has been a part of. But she begins with discussing her origins of being born to British parents in India. It is clear she is very proud and very fond of her birthplace, and she......more


Quotes

There is a Joanna Lumley for everyone: there's beautiful angelic Joanna, hot sexy Joanna, Kick-ass "Purdey" Joanna, heroic single mum Joanna, comic genius Joanna and crusading Gurkha-saver Joanna. And thanks to her habit of insanely hoarding everything from bales of cloth to old wrapping paper, she has pictures of every incarnation, which are lushly reproduced in her immensely fun scrapbook-memoir, Absolutely. EVENING STANDARD

Her beauty does not fade and her unquenchable spirit for adventure seems more apparent than ever. Joanna Lumley is, for many, something of a national treasure. In this new illustrated memoir, we trot through her childhood in Kashmir...to her days of modelling in the Swinging Sixties and her move into acting. Luckily for fans, Lumley is a committed hoarder so there is a wealth of fantastic photographs and press cuttings to feast upon. DAILY EXPRESS

Mischievous and measured, Joanna Lumley gives us a remarkable portrait of a groovy life...Lots of facts, little hyperbole and a pervasive sense of self effacement, a very British talent for understatement and self-deprecation and (and this, in an age of vomit-into-the-void celebrity culture is perhaps what stands out and pleases the most) restraint...that makes this such a refreshing read...she gives us the facts - and photographs - from a life astonishingly rich in experience. THE TIMES

A full-page photograph at the begining of Joanna Lumley's glossy memoir shows the nation's darling in full evening dress, wearing a glittering tiara...crimson sash and gold star...The portrait captures perfectly the mixture of poshness and larkiness that has captivated Joanna Lumley's audiences...Tempting as it is to concentrate on the wealth of photographs, it would be a pity to ignore the linking text. Joanna writes beautifully, managing to be both thoughtful and amusing. DAILY MAIL

Lumley has done it all, from sex kitten and TV star to activist for the Gurkhas. Read about it here.' - No.2 of The Independent's 'Ten Best New Memoirs INDEPENDENT

An actress with an extraordinarily varied life that has taken her from Kashmir to kent, from Bond girl to Ab Fab. It's all here in this gloriously illustrated, entertaining memoir, that's packed with personal photos and reminiscences. WOMAN & HOME

Joanna Lumley's Absolutely is what Alan Sugar would probably call "a breath of fresh air in a world full of c***". Like Winner and Sugar, she has published memoirs before, and so this is a picture book, with words - thousands of pictures of Lumley as a child, a model, an actress, and as her dark ego Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous....She writes beautifully, too; unlike the authors above, she does not scream into the Dictaphone but respects her readers enough to compose sentences and read back over them when she has finished. DAILY TELEGRAPH

She's the glamorous age-defying star of stage and screen, who is famous as Patsy from Ab Fab yet a passionate human rights campaigner. But as her autobiography reveals, Joana's life has seen her fight through poverty and being a single mum BEST