This episode is a chapter from Complicated Women by Bee Wilson, a new LRB audiobookbased on pieces first published in the London Review of Books. Wilson explores the lives of ten figures, from Lola Montez to Vivienne Westwood, who challenged the limitations imposed on women in dramatically different ways. In this free chapter, she describes the ways that Edith Piaf’s life and art embodied the needs of her public, and how she became a symbol of postwar French resilience.

Get the full audiobook here, and you’ll be able to listen to it in any of the major podcast apps.

As an introductory offer listeners can get 20 per cent off when you use the code POD20 at checkout.

Read anywhere with the London Review of Books app, available now from the App Store for Apple devices, Google Play for Android devices and Amazon for your Kindle Fire.

Sign up to our newsletter

For highlights from the latest issue, our archive and the blog, as well as news, events and exclusive promotions.

Newsletter Preferences