A SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN AND DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR

With her arrival on the music scene in the early 1980s, Madonna generated nothing short of an explosion.

But she was more than just a pop star. Fans gravitated to her as an emblem of a new age, one in which feminism could feel fresh and relevant to the next generation. Amid the scourge of the AIDS crisis, she brought queer identities into the mainstream and refused to separate her music from her political activism. As an artist, she pushed countless boundaries with provocative and visionary music, videos, films and live performances that changed culture globally.

Deftly tracing Madonna's story from her Michigan roots to her rise to super-stardom, master biographer Mary Gabriel captures the dramatic life and enduring influence of one of the greatest artists of our time.