Real Peter Pan: J. M. Barrie and the Boy Who Inspired Him

Real Peter Pan: J. M. Barrie and the Boy Who Inspired Him | Piers Dudgeon

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A look at the lives of J.M. Barrie & neighbours, the Llewelyn Davies family, whose five boys were instrumental in the development of the story of Peter Pan - especially Michael, their fourth son, on whom the main character was based. At first the friendships were thought to be of little concern but eventually Arthur Llewelyn Davies moved his family out of London to get away from Barrie's influence. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf In this he was thwarted by his wife who facilitated Barrie's involvement. Unlike Peter Pan, Michael did indeed grow up, & as he did so he tried to break free of Barrie's influence, but only managed to do so in death. Accident or suicide? We will probably never know.

If events happened as they are laid out here, Barrie's presence was a wedge between the boys' parents, Sylvia & Arthur, who grew apart just before Arthur's tragic death of cancer at 2d

OutsmartYourShelf a relatively young age, & Barrie's continued influence fractured this family from within. Even after reading this, I'm still unsure as to whether it could be termed emotional abuse, but the dynamic between Michael & Barrie became unhealthy for both of them.

Even with this darkness at the heart of one of our best-loved children's story, there were points when my attention wandered. 2d

OutsmartYourShelf The writing style is quite rambling & the narrative sometimes went off on tangents instead of sticking to the main point. I found it a bit confusing at times, but I hadn't known about the link between the Llewelyn Davies family & the du Mauriers before reading this. 2⭐

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4292906405
Read 1st-4th May 2025

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES 2d

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Booksblanketsandahotbeverage Interesting and heartbreaking 💔 Reminds me of Lewis Carroll and his interest in Alice Liddell 2d

Andrew65 An interesting scenario, but a shame the book wasn‘t better. 2d

DieAReader 🎉👋🏻 #Next 2d

OutsmartYourShelf @Booksblanketsandahotbeverage Indeed! That comparison was also mentioned in the book. 1d

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Real Peter Pan: J. M. Barrie and the Boy Who Inspired Him | Piers Dudgeon

I found Neverland absolutely fascinating (esp the DuMaurier connection), and after just having seen the musical, decided to read the tagged book. Interesting but sad. If you love the Johnny Depp movie and/or the musical, you might want to skip these. #recentnonfictionread #marchintoreading