Introducing 'John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs'

Links To Your Preferred Retailers Below

My new book, John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs is now out in Britain and America.

John & Paul tells the story of the tempestuous, intimate, phenomenally creative relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I’d love you to buy it. Links to British and American retailers below. Smash your preferred link:

UK
Waterstones
Amazon
Foyles
Blackwells
Bookshop.org

U.S.

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Powell’s
BAM!
Bookshop
Audible

THANK YOU!

John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs starts in 1957, when the two of them meet, before taking us through their rise to fame, stupendous success, acrimonious split and aftermath. I tell the story through songs, since it’s my belief that it’s impossible to understand the music of the Beatles except through the alchemy between John and Paul - and you can’t understand that alchemy except through the songs. John & Paul offers a whole new narrative of the Beatles; one which scrapes away the clichés in order to reveal the group and its two principals afresh. It’s a story full of joy, love, pain and pathos. But don’t take my word for it…

The first new Beatles story in decades - and the one that will make your heart burst.
Caitlin Moran

It is stunning to follow Leslie’s insights into how far and fast John and Paul traveled, how profound their preternatural alliance was, and how epic their heroic journey. I’m sorry John isn’t here to read this book. I hope if Paul does read it he feels the depth of appreciation and gratitude and intelligence it contains. T-Bone Burnett, The New York Times

Revelatory…a wonderful re-animation of their power and joy.
Simon Schama, Financial Times

A masterpiece.
Dylan Jones, Evening Standard

A triumph.
Deborah Levy, New Statesman

The gold standard of Beatles books.
Anthony Quinn, Observer

I so loved John & Paul. Completely absorbing, painfully moving.
Nigella Lawson

No writer has ever gotten to the heart of the John/Paul saga as brilliantly as Ian Leslie.
Rob Sheffield

The most moving and revelatory book on Lennon and McCartney I have ever read - so joyous, so sad. I just wish I could enjoy the experience of reading it for the first time again.
Tom Holland, historian.

I was enthralled by John & Paul - one of the most insightful books I've ever read on creativity, genius, and collaboration.
James Shapiro

A triumph, full of insight and revelation: the story of the most successful 20th century songwriting partnership in 43 songs.
Jon Savage

In John & Paul, Ian Leslie has written an exceptional and (yes) original book about the profound, complicated, and world-changing friendship of the two men at the heart of The Beatles. Leslie gives us fresh insights into the relationships, creative dynamics, and musicianship of the most celebrated band in history, and he writes with the same pulsing energy and joy as his subjects. What a luxurious pleasure this book was to read; how one wishes he could have written more.
Jennifer Senior

Here is the UK cover:

Isn’t it splendid? The picture was taken by Val Wilmer at the Finsbury Park Astoria, at the end of 1963, the year the Beatles conquered Britain (America was next). Here is the equally fabulous American cover, which uses David Bailey’s stunning picture of the pair from 1965:

The Ruffian is deeply intertwined with John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs. The book sprang from a long piece that I wrote about McCartney on here back in 2020. It went so unexpectedly viral that I started to think, huh, what if…? I’d already been thinking, vaguely, of a book about the two of them, but now it seemed viable.

It’s been a massive undertaking and without income from paid subscribers here I simply wouldn’t have had time to do this story justice. In months to come, I’ll be sending J&P-related posts exclusively to paid subscribers.