Warrior
Audrey Hepburn
by: Robert Matzen
GoodKnight Books

Audrey Hepburn as a Warrior was a woman who passionately cared about children around the world who endured tremendous injustices. Robert Matzen deftly captures the magnitude of Hepburn's humanitarian role in his enlightening new book. Her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador was powerful, and her actions were tireless. She fearlessly walked directly into places of famine, drought, hunger, sickness, death, and war. Her unrelenting endeavors led to heightened messages of awareness and raising of funds for her causes.
Although Matzen introduces us to Hepburn and follows her roles including actress, mother, wife, companion, friend, and gardener, the spotlight is on her work with UNICEF. Readers are moved upon learning that, as a child herself, she knew war and hunger. As Hepburn became a champion for children later in her life, Matzen takes us on her travels and missions for needs in places such as Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Viet Nam.
Audrey Hepburn first captured my heart as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday, gleefully riding through the street of Rome with her co-star, Joe, played by Gregory Peck. Learning about her determination and deeds of goodness through UNICEF, however, took me deep into her compassionate heart. Readers will appreciate discovering or deepening their awareness of the altruistic aspect of Hepburn's beautiful life, legacy, and Warrior spirit. As a bonus, her son, Luca Dotte, provides a very personal and touching foreword to the book.
Thank you to Net Galey and GoodKnight Books for the advance reader's copy and the opportunity to provide my honest review.
 #warrioraudreyhepburn #NetGalley

Warrior review -

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Audrey Hepburn!!!

a legend in both cinema and history, Robert Matzel discusses Hepburn's work with UNICEF and chronicles her life from the age of sixteen when she first came into contact with the organization and how it led to years of kind acts and philanthropy that left a stronger impact than her film career. well - researched by Mr. Matzel. [Turns out Hepburn and I have the same favorite film of hers - Roman Holiday!]

#Warrior: Audrey Hepburn
#RobertMatzen

Publishing today
28 September 2021

Thank you @netgalley and @goodknightbooks for the e-ARC.

This book completes the arc of
Robert Matzen’s ‘Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II. It is an eye-opening celebrity biography which hopefully will be inspiring to the masses. It focuses on so many subjects which will continue to be relevant: climate change, racial injustice, refugee crisis, women’s rights.

You knew, and fell in love, with Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and as the ethereal princess in Roman Holiday. She stole the heart of the world with her charm, acting prowess and emotive eyes.

But did you know of her work with the children in Ethiopia? She worked ceaselessly and tirelessly to be the face of countless mothers and children in desperate situations and in dangerous places.

They who did not know Hepburn the star, but only the humanitarian who brought them food, medicine, safety and enveloped them with love and smiles.

She used her fame and her name to capture the media’s (and the world’s ) attention and became the Warrior.

Hepburn’s son Luca Dotti, in his foreword to ‘Warrior’ says: “UNICEF expected that Audrey Hepburn would be a pretty princess for them at galas. What they really got was a badass soldier”.

A worthwhile read inspite of Matzen putting in so much of information that at places the book reads less a biography more an encyclopedia.

However it this detail and Matzen’s research which makes us feel that we are walking alongside, seeing the world through Hepburn’s eyes, feeling the hunger and the starvation, and that innate desire to make a difference.

I hope more and more read this book and that more and more celebrities use their standing, status and wealth to carry on the work Hepburn paved the path for.

This book is hagiography. It lauds Audrey Hepburn, one of the most prominent American Hollywood actors of the 1950s and 1960s. The book is authored by a man who wrote *Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II* and is close to Luca Dotti, one of Hepburn's sons.

If hagiography would be all that there is to this book, it would be junk.

Thankfully, this book is more than applause and apotheosis.

> She had heard that one of the children was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “Alive” was the response. Audrey could see a nightmare in the making not just for Ecuador but for the world, and it rattled her. They were growing up wild, these children of the streets, with no education, no moral compass, and total susceptibility to all the evils of the world. By adulthood, those who survived would be monsters without conscience. That realization crystallized UNICEF’s street-children mission in her mind.

Audrey Hepburn was humanitarian and helped people who weren't as fortunate as she was. She made more of a career as an UNICEF ambassador than an actress; she went a very long way to help people who lived in appalling conditions. There is no doubt in my mind that she tried to better these conditions in many ways, which are on display in this book.

> “My mother didn’t take herself seriously,” said Sean. “She used to say, ‘I take what I do seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously.’”

This book lifts a shroud off Hepburn's persona as constructed by magazines.

> When she was five both her parents embraced Germany’s savior Adolf Hitler, tucked their daughter in the Netherlands with family, and traveled to Munich to meet the Führer. Soon Audrey’s father separated from Dutch Baroness Ella van Heemstra, Audrey’s mother, to work for the growing German empire. Her mother retained pro-Nazi ties for another eight years, all of which became a set of secrets locked in Audrey’s soul for a lifetime.

There are some bizarre omissions throughout the book. For example, there is mention of Hepburn's support for Live Aid, but nothing said about how proceeds from that gala were emptied by the Ethiopian government to buy arms, something which Bob Geldof was warned about but ignored.

Some very personal details are included:

> February 1980. Eight years before the Ethiopia trip, Audrey had secluded herself at 615 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills during what she called “the worst period of my life.” Divorce proceedings with Dotti were dragging on and when final, she would find herself a signed and sealed two-time loser. So much for chasing love. Her most recent attempt at following her heart had been a crush on actor Ben Gazzara, with whom she worked on the features Bloodline and They All Laughed. But the infatuation went nowhere and she ended They All Laughed feeling lonelier than ever.

It is also clear that Hepburn did her best to try and help people who desperately needed help.

> “Many times, people would ask for an interview about UNICEF when they really just wanted to talk about movies,” said Christa Roth. “She would talk an hour about, say, Ethiopia and five minutes about films, but the story would be ten percent UNICEF and ninety percent movies. It bothered her a lot. So we started to restrict the interviews to publications that gave her solid footage. It worked out quite well. She got a lot of coverage.”

She used her name and fame to get money for poor people, which should always grace her name:

> This audience had purchased tickets in the range of $25 to $75 each. Hundreds of donors had paid $250 to $500 to rub shoulders with Audrey and one another at the pre-event cocktail hour. Tonight’s gate for UNICEF would total north of $350,000.

I wonder what Hepburn herself would say if she were today interviewed about her life. I doubt she would direct most of the conversation to be about herself, which is why I'm glad this book exists. It shows that anybody can help out, no matter to what extent. On the other hand, the book is garnished with namedroppings that we could do without.

This book suffers a bit from being fragmented. It's written in an old-school style of writing: paragraphs are quite standalone and some people are portrayed as fairly two-dimensional. Still, on the whole, it's interesting to read about Hepburn's selfishness and good heart.

Known for her iconic roles in popular films and her signature grace and style, Audrey Hepburn is a household name. But while she is known for her movie roles and iconic fashion sense on the Red Carpet, what has always stood out for me was her dedicated work for UNICEF to help the world's most at-risk children.

Warrior is an inspirational biography of this iconic actress turned humanitarian that gives readers an unbelievable amount of depth into the life of Ms. Hepburn. I enjoyed learning about her Dutch heritage and early life living in The Netherlands during WWII (and the fact that she is not related to Katherine Hepburn which was news to me). When she passed away in 1993, the world lost a talented woman and a crusader for the world’s most poverty-stricken children.

Audrey Hepburn lived a fascinating life, but I didn't enjoy the way Robert Matzen tells her story. His writing is repetitive and regularly gets bogged down in the minutiae of her life and her many UNICEF trips. This made Warrior read less like a biography and more like a textbook or encyclopedia entry for this star and humanitarian. By the halfway mark I had had enough and skimmed the last half of the book.

I have great respect for Audrey Hepburn and the legacies she has left the world. My feelings about how Robert Matzen tells Hepburn's story are, in no way, meant to diminish her work in Hollywood or her life beyond the glitz and the glamour where she made her biggest impact in her tireless work to help the world's underprivileged and most vulnerable children.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I've been a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn since I was a kid so I was really excited to read this ARC! It was definitely a bit hard to read and I'm not sure if that's because it was an electronic ARC or if it was just a lot of info dumping.

I doubtl Audrey was a badass,and this book gave some great I do on her life and work with unicef. I didn’t care for some of the wording and organization, but overall nice read. Full review on goodreads.

Firstly of course, thank you to Net Galley, the publishers and the author for an ARC copy for my honest review.

Warrior: Audrey Hepburn completes the story arc of Robert Matzen's Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II. Hepburn's experiences in wartime, including the murder of family members, her survival through combat and starvation conditions, and work on behalf of the Dutch Resistance, gave her the determination to become a humanitarian for UNICEF and the fearlessness to charge into war-torn countries in the Third World on behalf of children and their mothers in desperate need. She set the standard for celebrity humanitarians and--according to her son Luca Dotti--ultimately gave her life for the causes she espoused.

Robert Matzen has in this book gone deeper than any other book on the great actress Audrey Hepuburn, his incredible research, studies, interviews must have been enormous.

We know from his previous books, and on other authors biographies the history of her story, her incredibly sad and shocking childhood and here in this book her strength, power, determination with her work for UNICEF.

This book although heavy and slow reading in parts what it does show is the chaos in Audrey Hepburn's life, country to country seeing so much poverty throughout the world, this to me is what stands out in this book. Audrey's determination in sharing her knowledge to the world!

I belief very much like the author the sights and poverty that Audrey experienced were shocking, and as she said to a friend "Sometimes I do not sleep at night", that is a lot of package to carry around your shoulders later in your life and I am sure effected her health.

Audrey was truly a "warrior", faced the toughest battle of all, her health. Fighting against severe pains flying worldwide to promote UNICEF, going to Somalia when she should have been thinking of her own health and wellbeing.

A brave, courageous, talented, loved woman. A star, a hero, a woman to be remembered for her film work but more for her work for UNICEF. Thank you

Audrey Hepburn is an icon with a timeless beauty, both inside and out. This book is a wonderful tribute, well researched and gives insight into a life of tragedy, hope and purpose.
Thank you to the author for being so particular and providing a superb story.

Thank you to GoodKnight Books, NetGalley and Robert Matzen for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received an advance reading copy (arc) of this book from NetGalley.com in return for a fair review. The words 'warrior' and 'badass' don't seem applicable to the beautiful and elegant Audrey Hepburn, but behind that movie star façade was a driven woman who fought hard to improve the dire conditions faced by way too many children around the world. Like me, if you have read Robert Matzen's book 'Dutch Girl', you would have learned about the horrors of war that Hepburn encountered as a child in Holland during World War II. Now Matzen describes her life post-Hollywood when she took on the commanding role of Ambassador for UNICEF. Because she understood the ordeals a child living in a war-torn country faced, she wanted to help, but she took the job to a whole new level. Hepburn insisted on visiting countries teeming with violence such as Ethiopia, Sudan and even Somalia. At her own risk, she never hesitated when it came to caring for diseased children who lacked medicine, food, and clean clothes. She would hold a baby in one arm while chasing the flies away with the other. Saving the children was the only thing on her mind. And she was magnificent at the job. Seeing the things she saw and experiencing the things she experienced, would change anyone, but she kept going back for more as long as her health held out. I was amazed at the stamina of this tiny little lady. If you are an Audrey Hepburn fan as I am, I highly recommend this book. If you are not an Audrey Hepburn fan, I think you will be once you read it. Author Robert Matzen has penned another fine book and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

You would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't heard of Audrey Hepburn. Even those who haven't seen her iconic movies still know her as the fashionista and beautiful woman she was. Most people might not know that she was a philanthropist and did tons of charity work. This book shares that side or Mrs. Hepburn, who was beautiful inside and out. Any fan of Audrey that wants to get to know her on a deeper level will enjoy diving into this book.

“‘For once in your life, Mummy,’ Luca pleaded to his mother, ‘use your bloody name!'”

Twenty-eight years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands or her humanitarian work with UNICEF.

Warrior shows Audrey Hepburn as she fought passionately for UNICEF’s cause and worked on the frontline. Not one to use her status as a movie star and fashion icon, she was extremely private about her life during the war. She experienced much blood and death by the time she turned sixteen but never admitted to the horrors she had witnessed.

I was so incredibly moved reading Warrior that I had to know more about her early life. It prompted me to pick up Dutch Girl to understand how her struggle during the war shaped her experiences and decisions in later years.

Robert Matzen’s research removes the glossy Hollywood filter and shows the woman before and after her Hollywood fame. He not only tracks Audrey Hepburn’s journey but describes the events and history at the time to provide context.

A visceral character sketch of a woman who refused to be broken by the war until her last breath, both these books capture an intimate account of Audrey Hepburn’s extraordinarily courageous life.

Audrey Hepburn By Robert Matzen. Published/due to be published by Goodknight Books:
1. Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II (2019)
2. Warrior: Audrey Hepburn (Due to be published 28th September 2021). This ARC courtesy of NetGalley and GoodKnight Books.

💫𝗪𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫: 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐩𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 💫 ⁣
𝘉𝘺 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘻𝘦𝘯, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢 𝘋𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪⁣
𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳: 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘒𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 (𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝟸𝟾.𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟷)⁣
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𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘺 𝘏𝘦𝘱𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘐𝘒𝘌𝘈 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴; 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘶𝘱, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵. ⁣
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This book reminded me that there were and have been a lot of amazing women trailblazing from the past. When it wasn’t the spotlight as it is now. Women like Audrey Hepburn who at 58 had everything you think you could want: family, wealth and the ease of comfort and yet pushed it all aside to focus social issues that became extremely political and important to her. ⁣
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“𝘜𝘕𝘐𝘊𝘌𝘍 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘺 𝘏𝘦𝘱𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳”.⁣
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𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝. The non fiction accounts of women that were humanitarians from our past. Audrey Hepburn fought for social justices for all children and mothers in war torn countries. She turned a spotlight on environmental issues. She championed refugees and ⁣
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𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐒𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬. 𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲. 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟: 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐛. ⁣
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The Audrey Hepburn I thought I knew behind the glitz and glamour was not even close to the full or most important part that we should know about her. The history, the life, the experiences….blown away by all she accomplished. I will warn you that parts of her story are graphic like the scene she stumbled upon in 1992 in Somalia. ⁣
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So would I recommend it? 💯 especially if you enjoy learning about our past… how far we have come and yet it seems as though not even close to far enough. As many of the same issues we are still fighting for right now. ⁣
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Ps. I feel like I’ve highlighted so many of her quotes on my kindle. There was just so much to take in like this one, which I’ll leave at the end of the review. ⁣
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“𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦”.

It took me awhile to read this because it’s not a fiction book and I read fiction books faster ! If you want to learn more about Audrey Hepburn in her older years this book is for you ! It’s interesting to learn about her humanitarian acts.

This is a MUST read. Audrey Hepburn was a star but first she was a children’s advocate. She was shy until she was fundraising for UNICEF where she was a goodwill ambassador and then would raise $2M in one day to feed, educate and clothe the war torn children. Audrey was a humanitarian and loved children with all her heart.
Thank you NetGalley and GoodKnight books for an ARC. I learned something and am amazed at the devotedness Ms Hepburn had for those mothers and children that lacked the basics and her willingness to fight however she could to bring these basics to them. Her war was famine and not men.

Prior to reading this book, the most I knew about Audrey Hepburn was that she was a famous actress of her time. What a privilege it has been to read this book and learn about this sophisticated, fascinating, selfless, warrior who spent so much time bringing awareness to and for UNICEF. This was an inspirational autobiography that left me in awe of this amazing person. I would highly recommend this book. Thank you for the ARC of this book. #warrioraudreyhepburn #NetGalley #GoodKnightBooks

Robert Matzen shares another layer of the remarkable Audrey Hepburn. She was beautiful, talented, an actress, partner and mother. She possessed the ability to light up the screen and her loved ones lives. Behind the beauty was a heart with fire and determination. Her work with UNICEF was one of commitment and unconditional will. Traveling to some of the most dangerous places with deplorable conditions, seeing the despair on the faces of mothers and their children and fighting as only a warrior can to grab the attention needed to provide the much needed help., she championed this journey. Whether meeting with world leaders or caring for the critically ill and dying, she worked tirelessly. This was her chosen path and one that she would continue with whole hearted emergence.
Audrey Hepburn is a hero, Audrey Hepburn was a saint to so many and Robert Matzen does an extraordinary job in telling this most unique attribute to Audrey, the woman. This is a highly recommended read.
Many thank you’s to NetGalley, Mr. Matzen and GoodKinight Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.

Audrey Hepburn is an absolute fashion icon and I couldn't wait to read this book! The way she holds herself and helps others is just full of natural elegance. This book really explores the extent of her work with UNICEF and also who Audrey really was as a person.

5/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: biographies, Audrey Hepburn, Dutch Girl, humanitarian work, UNICEF, Robert Matzen

This review has been posted to Goodreads and will be posted to my blog on 8/18.

I read Dutch Girl the other year and really enjoyed it, so I was happy to find (and receive) Warrior on NetGalley. I absolutely sped through this book, I loved it so much (it's also a good 100 pages shorter than the first one).

Once again, Matzen doesn't disappoint and goes into detail about Hepburn's desire to help the children and the scope of her humanitarian work for UNICEF. There are personal anecdotes from her life and the lives of those around her sprinkled throughout, but I think Matzen does it in such a way that it works well in the biography. I found that I enjoyed reading about adult Audrey and liked that Matzen kept more to the topic of her UNICEF work than he seemed to her Resistance work in Dutch Girl. I found it really interesting to read about how Hepburn prepared for her UNICEF trips and was fairly surprised about some of the places she visited. She really seemed to be dedicated to her humanitarian work and I think Matzen gets that across well.

Like with the first book, Matzen again pays due to Hepburn's relationships. She has this network of people around her that are able to help her with UNICEF and support her career decisions. I think showing these relationships also drives home just how empathetic and connected to other people she was during her life. The close relationships she has span the ages and obviously have an impact on her, which Matzen shoes. I also think Matzen did a good job showing the impacts of the shorter relationships she fostered in the countries she went to for UNICEF and how some of those moements and conversations stayed with her throughout her life.

Overall a pretty good book. It does a good job of showing Audrey's UNICEF work while also depicting how her career, family, and WWII all played a role in her life. Due to the timeline of things, Matzen does include some information about her film career as well as the end of her life, but I don't think those chapters detract from her UNICEF work.

Thank you to GoodKnight Books and NetGalley for the gifted copy of WARRIOR.

This is a fast paced memoir about Audrey Hepburn, the international film actress, and her work with UNICEF.

Audrey Hepburn's son Luca and partner Robert put together this book about Audrey Hepburn. This book is a wonderful follow up to Dutch Girl, another memoir about Audrey's war experiences.

This book is highly recommended for fans of Audrey Hepburn.