The gripping life story of journalist Marie Colvin, celebrated across the world as the greatest war correspondent of her generation, who was tragically killed in Syria in 2012
Lindsey Hilsum is Channel 4 News International Editor. She has covered many of the conflicts of recent years, including Syria, Ukraine and the Arab Spring - sometimes alongside Marie Colvin. In 1994, she was the only English-speaking foreign correspondent in Rwanda when the genocide began. She was in Belgrade for the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, and in Baghdad for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. She has won awards from the Royal Television Society and BAFTA amongst others, and was the recipient of the 2017 Patron's Medal from the Royal Geographical Society. Her last book Sandstorm- Libya from Gadaffi to Revolution was described by the Observer as 'an account with historical depth to match dramatic reportage.' In Extremis was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and won the James Tait Black Award.
An extraordinary account of one reporter's fearless and ultimately
fatal dedication... Hilsum draws an empathetic portrait of a woman
whose courage often crossed into recklessness, both in combat zones
and outside them... Now, thanks to Hilsum's deeply reported and
passionately written book, Colvin has the full accounting that she
deserves
*New York Times*
A wonderful book – a fitting tribute, certainly, but also a
well-told tale of a remarkable life
*Sunday Times*
A stunningly good biography – compelling, revelatory and very
moving. Lindsey Hilsum is the perfect writer to tell the story of
Marie Colvin's rackety, brave and charismatic life
*William Boyd*
Writing a biography of Marie Colvin is like capturing lightning in
a bottle, but Lindsey Hilsum has the knowledge and personal
experience to help us understand what drew Colvin to rush towards
the eye of the storm at such great risk. It is a superbly fitting
tribute
*Annie Lennox*
Rarely has a friend and colleague written such a brave and
uncompromising testament to such a rare, brave and uncompromising
woman. Would that a few more of us should be so blessed in our
courage and our friends
*Shami Chakrabarti*
Hilsum marshals not just empathy for her subject, who was also a
friend, but investigative and critical skills and damn fine
storytelling... Hilsum's understanding of the background to each
conflict, and the reality of life as a correspondent in the field,
is one of the great strengths of the book... In Extremis rescues
Marie Colvin from the rubble of Baba Amr, and brings her
tragically, and tenderly, to life
*Irish Times*
Superb. A fitting account of the life of one of the finest war
correspondents of our time, written by another. I admired Marie
greatly, and In Extremis showed me I was right to do so
*John Simpson*
The clearest and most rounded picture...emerges from Hilsum's book.
Colvin herself, courageous and often tortured, rises again from its
pages
*Observer*
One of the modern world’s most experienced and admired foreign
correspondents, Lindsey Hilsum, has now written a riveting,
intimate and deeply moving account of the epic life of her late
friend and colleague, Marie Colvin, who will be long remembered –
not least because of Hilsum’s fine work in this book – as amongst
the great war reporters of her generation
*Jon Lee Anderson*
An inspiring and intimate biography of one of the bravest
journalists of our time by one of her finest colleagues. Lindsey
Hilsum takes us inside the world of a woman who changed the world
around her
*Lyse Doucet*
Marie Colvin was a one-off, eccentric, brilliant and sometimes
maddening. Lindsey Hilsum does her justice
*Evening Standard*
Colvin’s energy and passion were irresistible… Hilsum…[combines]
storytelling with asking important questions about what kind of
service war correspondents perform and what ethical codes they
should adhere to
*Guardian*
One of the best biographies I have read about any journalist...
This is a great story, well told... What makes the biography and
the life on which it is based so impressive is the truly heroic
proportions of Colvin's dedication to getting the story of human
beings trapped in war
*The Intercept*
In Extremis seeks to unravel the mystery behind the war
correspondent... Hilsum avoids hagiography...and pulls no
punches
*The Times*
Hilsum crafts a full and rich portrait of Colvin that never becomes
hagiography. In Extremis is an intensely human account that does
justice to its subject
*Irish independent*
In writing this richly researched and well-crafted account, Hilsum
avoids canonising Saint Marie of Fleet Street... That it fell to
someone else to do the reporting on her remarkable life story may
seem tragic. It is also, perhaps, a measure of just who she was
*Spectator*
In Lindsey Hilsum, Marie Colvin has found, posthumously, the right
biographer. She penetrates the war-zone of Colvin’s life, and
fetches her back in all her beautiful, brave complexity. This is a
heartbreaking portrait that does not detract from the legend, but
understands the compulsions which returned Colvin time and again to
seek out the most dangerous places
*Nicholas Shakespeare*
True to the spirit of Marie, the biography is dramatic, a swirl of
parties and people and a burning desire to be truthful about the
pain of the world
*Sunday Times, **Books of the Year***
As this intimate biography by Lindsey Hilsum, a fellow (female)
reporter, shows, Colvin's gift was writing, passionately, about
ordinary lives during war... With the help of Colvin’s diaries,
Hilsum deftly explores her complex motives... She was often the
first, or only, reporter to go in, and the last out, even if that
meant trekking over a mountain range
*The Economist*
In Extremis reveals the human vulnerability behind the bravery
*Stylist*
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