Will She Do?

<p><i>Will She Do? </i>is the story of a girl from a council estate in Tottenham, born in 1934 to an electric-meter reader and a seamstress, who was determined to be an actress. Candid and witty, this memoir takes her from her awkward performances in working-men''s clubs at six years of age as dancing ''Baby Eileen'', through the war years in London, to her breakthrough at thirty-two on Broadway with <i>The Killing of Sister George</i>, for which she received the first of four Tony Award nominations. She co-created <i>Upstairs, Downstairs</i> and wrote the screenplay for <i>Mrs Dalloway</i> (for which she won an <i>Evening Standard </i>Award) and at aged eighty-six, this is her first autobiographical work. <br><br>Characterised by an eye for the absurd, a terrific knack for storytelling and an insistence on honesty, <i>Will She Do?</i> is a wonderful raconteur''s tale about family, about class, about youthful ambition and big dreams and what really goes on behind the scenes. Made a Dame in 1991, Eileen Atkins has been on American and British stage and screen since 1957 and has won an Emmy, a BAFTA and is a three-time Olivier Award winner; her theatre performances include <i>The Height of the Storm, Ellen Terry, All that Fall</i> and she has appeared in television and films ranging from <i>Doc Martin</i> to <i>Cranford </i>to <i>The Crown.</i></p>