Warrior: Audrey Hepburn

In continuation from his international best seller “Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II , author Robert Matzen continues to explore the life of humanitarian and actress : Audrey Hepburn. In this latest work alongside Hepburn's son Luca Dotti shares her journey as ambassador of UNICEF. Dutch Girl, and Warrior serve together as a full embodied work noting Hepburn’s relationship with UNICEF after having received support from them as a child at the end of the Second World War. Matzen highlights Hepburn’s decision to raise her sons, after leaving Hollywood roughly 20 years prior at 38 years old and explores her decision to work for UNICEF and become an ambassador for the many children of the world. This book focuses on Hepburn’s five years working with UNICEF from 58-63 years old. Racial justice, climate change, women’s rights, and the global refugee crisis are areas Hepburn came across during her time as UNICEF ambassador. The resilience found as a child is depicted to be brought forth once more as she entered war zones once again, as she observed hunger, famine, and death. This book held her many roles in life in equal reverence and adds to exploring her experience and contact as she assumed them in life. Out of five stars on goodreads I gave this a strong five out of five stars. I recommend it to those who enjoy biography’s , films of Audrey Hepburn and would like to know the person behind the icon. Thank you to Netgalley and Good Knight Books for an advanced readers copy.

I liked that it tells how Audrey Hepburn spent the last years of her life helping especially the children of the world. She was a great human being!

I love Audrey Hepburn and have watched all her movies. But I did not know the extent of her work with UNICEF ..this book details her wonderful second life which I feel far outweighs anything she did for Hollywood. I highly recommend it.

I've always thought it unfair that Audrey Hepburn is mostly remembered for being extremely pretty in films when the work she did as a UNICEF ambassador changed and saved lives. Having all she went through to ensure that people didn't just sweep children's suffering under the rug and pretended it wasn't happening simply because it was in impoverished countries has been inspiring. But I never really knew the whole story of everything she did, experienced, and sacrificed to achieve what she did.This book is both fantastic and heartbreaking. The beautiful, honest writing by Matzen is both the reason I admire it and that it took me 6 months to read it. It is a no-holds-barred retelling of the highs and lows of each campaign and all the work Hepburn and the people at UNICEF did. It paints a vivid picture of entire communities decimated by war and famine. It is both the good and hope in people doing their best to bring aid and the horrors of that aid not being enough or getting there in time. And through it all, a slight wisp of a woman with more will and determination than an entire battalion walking into Hell in hopes of being able to give those suffering a voice.It is not an easy read. I continually had to walk away from it just from how well Matzen places the reader right next to Hepburn as she walks through starving villages and war-torn cities. It hits hard and keeps on hitting even when the chapters are about things that happened in Hepburn's life outside of her work for UNICEF.Even with that, I very highly recommend giving this one a read to see what true strength of character is and how one person lending their voice to a cause can change the world.Extremely grateful to NetGalley and GoodKnight Books for the eye-opening read!

An indepth look at the effects of war and poverty on children through the lens provided by Audrey Hepburn's work with UNICEF. The stories of starving children, lovingly lifted up to be momentarily cared for by a woman about whom they know nothing are almost never-ending. Matzen chronicles Hepburn's work with UNICEF from it's inception with just a couple o glamorous events to it's end, when Hepburn has sacrificed her health in her dedication to the world's starving children.It's a side of Hepburn most people only know about, not in detail, and it begins with how living through an occupied Dutch town during WWII gave Hepburn a unique perspective as well as her perceived attitude of being a soldier in a battle. The battle was one she experienced during the war, that of starving at the hands of men who were battling to control her physical location. She was a child, caught up in the fight between Nazis and others, much as the children she was serving through UNICEF were caught up between warring factions whose focus was and is on power and possession, not on people, especially not the children.To that end, it's not a happy book. There are some bits of relief when Hepburn dons a Givenchy gown to present something to a gala or a group of individuals, all in the hope of raising awareness of the children. There are some vignettes told of her travels which make it unique and interesting On the flip side, much of it is the constant tale of starvation, children not understanding, Hepburn entering, sharing some compassion, then leaving again, over and over. So much of it is the same story, just in a different location, it is easy to lose track of where you are in the reading.This is a book well worth reading. The knowledge imparted is valuable, as well as the potential for Hepburn's work to continue as information is shared and spread..There may be times when the reader decides to skim pages, because of the repetitive nature of what they are reading. That shouldn't lessen the impact of the book's message.I reviewed and advance copy from the publisher, NetGalley, and Robert Matzan. The opinions stated here are entirely my own.

A brilliant follow up to his previous book of Audrey Hepburn “Dutch Girl “. Would easily recommend it