Holding Lightning
The Life, Loves and Art of Whitney Houston
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Holding Lightning
Narrated by:
Emily Lordi
Buy Now for ₹650.61
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Narrated by:
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Emily Lordi
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Written by:
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Emily Lordi
In Holding Lightning, Lordi reveals the dedication Houston applied to everything she did, from her encyclopaedic knowledge of music to the groundbreaking networks of Black creators that she worked so hard to create and uplift. This book fundamentally reappraises Houston's life and art, shifting our perspective so we can finally see Whitney in all her real, imperfect, fallible, resilient humanity.©2026 Emily Lordi (P)2026 HarperCollins Publishers
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Critic Reviews
[A] revelatory, big-picture study of Houston . . . Lordi is a generous, careful critic . . . She is equally deft at unpicking the knottier elements of Houston's story . . . With Holding Lightning she catches the clash between the star's high-minded, God-fearing ambitions and the grubbier realities of her life
Lordi treats the career of one of pop's greatest stars with the seriousness it deserves, but with emotional intelligence too, tracing the arc of Houston's life from global success to personal tragedy
Presents a pluralistic take on her life in which Houston's queerness, drug use and eccentricities are not dismissed as aberrations (as they were in her lifetime) but rather seen in the wider context of her unique talent and the pressures placed on her to embody black excellence . . . A consistently insightful, refreshing, restorative portrait
The first major biography of the star . . . Emily Lordi has spent four years talking with dozens of Houston's close friends, bandmates and neighbours - as well as leaning heavily on the star's own interviews and her intimates' memoirs
Excellent . . . Well-researched . . . Lordi convincingly makes the argument that Houston didn't fit into the archetype of the 'famous doomed woman whose only agency appears to be the power to self-destruct.' Rather, she writes, Houston was savvy and smart but had burned herself out after years of hard work, giving her all to her art: 'She could tend to her own light, or she could fire it up for us, but she could no longer do both' A top-notch biography of a generational talent
Not only is Emily Lordi's Holding Lightning a reclamation of Whitney Houston's sound and genius; it restores Houston to her rightful place as an architect of modern pop
In Holding Lightning, Lordi builds for us a Whitney who exemplifies Black excellence, yet she respects Whitney's humanity by seamlessly including the truth of her complexes and complexities. Whitney has agency. She has creative control. She has passion. She has details and demons. Rather than giving her her flowers, Lordi lavishly gives Whitney Houston her layers and wings. This is a rendering all Black girl geniuses deserve
Holding Lightning takes on the challenge of adding to the already robust legacy of one of our greatest artists, and it massively succeeds due to Emily Lordi's gift of close attention, of narrative world-building, and of immense care not only for Whitney Houston, but for the entire universe that was touched by her presence
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