“Listen closely to the singing and to her guileless comments and what you hear is a soul adrift, a craft without oars of growth or self-defence heading into an abyss. It is a familiar phenomenon: the sweet child torn from schoolbooks to stardom, doomed to a lifetime of letdowns. It is the story of Judy Garland and Michael Jackson, of Yehudi Menuhin and Evgeny Kissin, of Mozart, Nadia Comaneci and any chess master you care to name. Ignore the achievements, mighty as they might be. Rare is the child who overcomes a great gift to enjoy its fulfilment in maturity.”