John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs

"Like the Richard Holmes and Tim Bouverie books, there is a feeling of familiar territory here. Is there anything else to be extracted from the Beatles story, anything else to be said? But Leslie’s book is full of surprises and originality. He has previously written books on psychology , and he approaches the story of the Beatles through the central friendship between Paul and John, and the really intense relationship the two had right from when they first met as teenagers, all the way through to John’s death. What we get from this is a fresh perspective on the band in a story told with great narrative intensity. Leslie clearly has an enormous knowledge of, and deep passion for, the Beatles, but what really gives the book its edge is his determination to rescue Paul from the nay-sayers and to make clear just how central he was to the Beatles and how, in fact, it was he, rather than John, who was the driving force behind the band. He makes a very convincing case for that. It’s a brilliant achievement and the book is packed, of course, with all sorts of fascinating anecdotes—around the promiscuity of the band, for instance, and the way in the early days that they would write songs in the back of the touring van as they were going from one gig to another. It’s extraordinary, and it makes you realize again, with great clarity, what a phenomenon they were."