Book review

God and the Angel – Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier’s tour de force of Australia and New Zealand

By Shiroma Perera-Nathan

Published by Melbourne Books

RRP $59.95

Available at all bookstores and from Melbournebooks.com.au

Author Shiroma Perera-Nathan’s book God and the Angel is a labour of love.

It took her about five years to write, from the time she won the right to do it, at an auction run by Sotheby’s Auction House in London.

In 2017 Sotheby’s had the Vivien Leigh Estate Auction and Shiroma put in an absentee bid for the lot called Australian Tours.

“To my utter surprise I won!

“The lot consisted of some books presented to Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier on their tour of Australia and New Zealand and a small album of personal photos taken during their tour,” Shiroma said.

Being a lifelong fan of Vivien Leigh, Shiroma was overjoyed to win and decided to write a book about the tour of Australia and New Zealand.

It is a stunning book, full of many never-before published photos of the Oliviers from the National Library and Shiroma’s own collection.

The book retraces the journey of one of the 20th century’s most outstanding star couples, with the Australian landscape as a stunning backdrop.

Chapter 8, entitled Melbourne, fandom from Fitzroy, has photos of Vivien looking stunning among the ferns, at a press conference, the Windsor Hotel in 1948 and more.

God and the Angel is the first illustrated book on the 1948 Old Vic tour of Australia and New Zealand led by Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.