Who knew that a Spice Girl could be so fascinating and intriguing? Beneath that spangle Union Jack mini-dress beat the heart of a poet - or at least one of such a sensitive young woman!

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

Who knew that a Spice Girl could be so fascinating and intriguing? Beneath that spangle Union Jack mini-dress beat the heart of a poet – or at least one of such a sensitive young woman!

Geri Halliwell, 27 years old when she finished her autobiography `If Only`, started writing her diary at just 16years old. She continued since then and took her diary everywhere writing about her raving days at just 17, her high days and her low ones. As Geri writes “No two people see events the same way. Everybody’s truth is different. This is my truth”, Geri writes how she sees what is happening, she writes how she is feeling and she writes things that people just wouldn’t of expected.

In the poignant autobiography (if not a little premature) of the former Spice Girl, she is informative, interesting and immensely inspiring. It tells the story of the stars various battles with her parents, dysfunctional childhood, unemployment, and the fight she’s had since the age of 19 throughout the majority of her adult life against her eating disorder; Bulimia. Frank in tone, it portrays Geri’s slow rise to fame as she fought frantically up the ladder of success and eventually describes how she reached the hop.

Throughout Geri’s book she pays special attention to her slow bust development, reports wanting to marry ex Wham! band member and now solo artist George Michael, she also says that the transformation for Lady Diana to Princess Diana shows that fairy tales do exist in modern day reality.

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Snippets from her diary appear throughout show Geri’s lack of confidence and bouts of depression, which in turn leads to Bulimia. Though only a cynic would question whether she is being genuine, her diary entries revel the living, breathing, thinking, and feeling a human being behind the carefully crafted persona of ‘Ginger Spice’. Since Geri shed her glamorous skins of Ginger Spice and sold off her old outfits, which included her infamous Union Jack dress, and film (Spice World- The Movie) costumes Geri in her own words says “[I] have been trying to get [my] feet down to earth” and “escaping the bubble that has surrounded [me] for so long”. The process has seen her re-incarnation from Spice Girl to UN Ambassador, Breast Cancer Care campaigner and yoga practicing, mild mannered solo singer.

Geri’s crusade today is to re-educate people and inspire them on issues which have affected her life. Her brush with suspected Breast Cancer, the tragic loss of her father and eating disorder, Bulimia, all give different levels that everyone can re-late to, whether or not a Spice Girl fan.

The question maybe readers had before the book was ‘who is Geri really trying to be? If only Geri really knew!’ But after reading this truly exhilarating journey we see that Ginger Spice, UN Ambassador, Charity worker and Solo Artiste really does know who she is… She is no one else other than GERI HALLIWELL, the “if only girl”, always striving for something new to fulfil her thirst for life.

Those readers looking for dirt will utterly be upset because apart from the few and far between comments about her band mates discouraging her dreams, she offers Scary Spice (Mel B), Sport Spice (Mel C), Baby Spice (Emma), and Posh Spice (Victoria) the best of luck, her apologies, her thanks and shows the up most admiration for them all for all their wonderful Spice Girl years together.

The book is an inspiration to all those Spice Girl fans who believe, as she did, that all their problems would be solved ‘if only they grew up to be rich and famous’. The meaning behind the book however is, no matter how rich you are, or how famous you are, happiness really does come from loving yourself and a lot of soul searching.

So, is it just a publicity stunt or soul baring journal of a contemporary artist? Anyone reading this book would know that Geri conveys true emotions. This book shows maybe the most important chapter of Geri’s life, and at just 27 she has truly been through a lot. ‘If Only’ is defiantly worth the wait… who knows what the future holds for Geri.

HAYLEY MCKENNA