HarperCollins, 2016, 369 pages, Illustrated, ISBN-13: 978-0062469748. Available in Hardcover (with d/j), Kindle, Audible and Audio CD formats. EIN Note: The audio CD edition is narrated by Linda Thompson.

From its opening dedication the reader is struck by a searing honesty on the part of the author and a warm respect for those she is writing about. Displaying Linda’s obvious intelligence and storytelling flair, hers is a memoir you won't forget.

It has taken a long time for Linda’s book to finally be published. In A Little Thing Called Life On Loving Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner, and Songs in Between she reveals why it has been released now and not before.

Not surprisingly, out of respect, she waited to protect the secret about her first husband, Bruce, now Caitlyn, Jenner. That secret was one that Linda herself kept for nearly 30 years. Linda comments:

It has always remained of crucial importance to me that Bruce be allowed to reveal his own truth on HER own terms. As Caitlyn, She is doing that.

Trust is a critical component in every relationship. Elvis trusted me so completely that he allowed me to see him at his most vulnerable. He shared his deepest fears, sorrows, joys, memories, and aspirations with me. Elvis was beautifully complex figure.

The stories are broad ranging, from Linda losing her virginity to Elvis (‘the perfect Southern gentleman’) and how Elvis talked of marrying her, to the excitement of the Aloha satellite show, and the fun of being together. There is also an interesting anecdote of Elvis attending a parent-teacher meeting at Lisa Marie’s school and an even more intriguing account of Linda and Priscilla co-hosting Lisa Marie’s birthday party in Las Vegas.

Some readers will be surprised to read of Elvis’ substantial porn collection and more than passing interest in plastic surgery, while Linda’s raw account of Elvis’ twin demons, drug abuse and infidelity, gain a new dimension being framed from the perspective of his loyal companion and lover.

Elvis couldn’t resist baby talk. He spoke it fluently, received it hungrily. I understood both the intensity and the silliness of the gibberish.  He always called me by pet names, such as Ariadne.....or more commonly, Mommy.

Looking back now, these both seem a little odd to me, but at the time, they felt quite natural.

I stared at the phone for as long as it took me to gather my senses enough to realise that this incredibly bright and sensitive nine-year old child had had the presence of mind to pick up the phone to share this devastating occurrence with me.

There is a photo section at the back of the book, but of the sixteen photos of Linda and Elvis almost all will be familiar to Elvis fans.   One of our favourite photos – and not often seen - is the one of Linda, Elvis and Red that nicely captures the camaraderie that she had with Red West, as well as others in Elvis’ group. It is also noteworthy that the rather sad photo of Linda and a bloated Elvis, from 1976, that has been frequently used by the tabloids to promote this book is not actually included in this biography.

Like her time with Elvis, the Bruce Jenner story, one of great internal struggle, is well known, and it is a testament to Linda’s love for Bruce and her integrity as a person, that she delayed publication of her book until Bruce had revealed his story to the world. After meeting the “world’s greatest athlete”at the Playboy mansion, and with their early relationship being complicated by Bruce reconciling with his estranged wife, who then became pregnant, Linda and Bruce finally married and enjoyed four happy years, until Bruce revealed his unimaginable inner struggle.

In comparing David and Elvis, Linda observes:

While Elvis and David both had fiery tempers, here was a big distinction between them. Elvis was always profusely apologetic and reconciliatory when he allowed his anger to get the best of him. David would get angry, disappear, unaccounted for, then come back acting like nothing had happened and expecting me to go along with him. Elvis was difficult, but never this difficult.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “I was watching that”.

“I don’t want you watching a show about your ex-boyfriend”

“Oh, my God, he’s been dead ten years,” I said. “He’s not coming back to claim me. This was a part of my life, a part of my history, and it’s a part of history, period. You’re in the music industry. You don’t want to watch this?”

“Hell no, and I don’t want you watching it, either.”

.....David was clearly threatened by Elvis’ ghost and never wanted me to mention him.

(Reviewers note: David and Bruce also did not get along)

A Little Thing Called Life includes a full color photo section with many great images (including nearly twenty that are Elvis related). Each chapter in the book is preceded by the lyrics to one of Linda’s many songs. There are also a four page Acknowledgments section and several pages of Song Credits. There is no Index.

Verdict: A Little Thing Called Life is among the best memoirs with a strong Elvis theme ever released. It is also one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. Alternating between the light, dark and shades of life in between, it is an honest and intimate account of the incredible life of an amazing woman from the three men who shared her life and her family to the highly successful and varied career that she continues to enjoy.