The acclaimed memoir of one of Britain's most loved actresses, a girl from Tottenham with big dreams who is now Dame Eileen Atkins. `Wit as dry as a martini' Daily Mail `Bliss' Observer `Exhilarating' Spectator

Will She Do? is the story of a girl from a council estate in Tottenham - born in 1934 to an electric-meter reader and a seamstress - who was determined to be an actress.


Candid and witty, this memoir takes her from her awkward performances in working-men's clubs at six years of age as dancing 'Baby Eileen', through the war years in London, to her breakthrough at thirty-two on Broadway with The Killing of Sister George ; it's about family, about class, about youthful ambition, about big dreams and what really goes on behind the scenes.

`Startling, candid and often disquietingly funny - Atkins proves to be a marvellous raconteur... she's never, ever dull' - Miranda Seymour, FT

'Oh, those anecdotes! . . . A rollicking ride through the early career of one of our greatest acting dames' Evening Standard


'Displays the emotional intelligence, acute observation, wry humour and above all honesty that distinguish Atkins's acting . . . exhilarating' Spectator


'Dame Eileen Atkins has gone toe to toe with them all over a career spanning seven decades and countless triumphs' Radio Times

Made a Dame in 1991, Eileen Atkins has been on American and British stage and screen since 1957 and has won an Emmy, a BAFTA and is a three-time Olivier Award winner.

'She is the cur's cods, the terrier's testicles, the business. I will go farther and declare that Atkins is the finest actor appearing in the world right now' - A. A. Gill


Will She Do? is the story of a girl from a council estate in Tottenham, born in 1934 to an electric-meter reader and a seamstress, who was determined to be an actress.

Candid and witty, this memoir takes her from her awkward performances in working-men's clubs at six years of age as dancing 'Baby Eileen', through the war years in London, to her breakthrough at thirty-two on Broadway with The Killing of Sister George, for which she received the first of four Tony Award nominations. She co-created Upstairs, Downstairs and wrote the screenplay for Mrs Dalloway (for which she won an Evening Standard Award) and at aged eighty-six, this is her first autobiographical work.

Characterised by an eye for the absurd, a terrific knack for storytelling and an insistence on honesty, Will She Do? is a wonderful raconteur's tale about family, about class, about youthful ambition and big dreams and what really goes on behind the scenes.

Made a Dame in 1991, Eileen Atkins has been on American and British stage and screen since 1957 and has won an Emmy, a BAFTA and is a three-time Olivier Award winner; her theatre performances include The Height of the Storm, Ellen Terry, All that Fall and she has appeared in television and films ranging from Doc Martin to Cranford to The Crown.