Lars Reichardt, BARBARA

btb - Non-Fiction - Hardcover - September 2018 - 288 pages

Barbara Valentin led an unusual and multi-faceted life. Having begun her career as an actress famed for her large breasts, she went on to reinvent herself several times over. She soon became one of the most famous Munich socialites of the 1960s and 70s and, under the direction of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, made the move from the tabloids into serious acting. She was also known for her long-standing friendship with Freddie Mercury. In the 1990s, Barbara’s life increasingly fell apart and she died in 2002, having barely reached her sixties.

Her son embarks on a search for clues, skillfully interweaving his mother’s spectacular, fast-paced and intoxicating life with his own thoughts on his unusual family structure and numerous contemporary historical events. An intimate book by a son about his mother and a very personal portrait of an exceptional woman.