Gabriel’s writing is unfussy and direct.

The result is an alternately fascinating and lumpy account of a singular career.

One of those books you measure in pounds, not pages: almost three, which would have been more if the publisher hadn’t decided to post the endnotes and bibliography online rather than printing them.

The Madonna that emerges from Ms. Gabriel’s pages is a force of nature.

First, the good news: Mary Gabriel's doorstop, Madonna: A Rebel Life, is a meticulously researched, readable account of the most driven and (re)inventive pop star of our times.

Suggests something comprehensive: it is eight hundred and eighty pages.

Reverent.

Gabriel approaches the task with a rigor and ambition that matches Madonna’s.

Careful.

Occasionally the writer strays into hagiography territory, but her claims are not without foundation.

Madonna built the house in which nearly all female artists now live: the gig as a huge theatrical spectacle. Beyoncé, Britney, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift – she kicked down the doors for them. The girl with the Boy Toy belt, dismissed as a tramp, now plays in places such as Turkey, where women’s rights are being stamped on, and turns around to reveal 'No Fear' written on her back. A Rebel Life brings home not just her obvious willpower and strength, but her fearlessness and sheer intelligence..

You wouldn’t have thought it would be possible to write a dull book about such a rich life as Madonna’s, but Mary Gabriel manages it. She also spends 800 pages managing it, which compounds the achievement.

Gabriel is a wonderfully empathic writer, attuned to emotional nuances as well as the public side of her complex subject, resulting in a minutely detailed, lushly evocative portrait as Madonna’s story continues..

Thoughtful.

Drawing on extensive research, Gabriel paints a satisfyingly nuanced portrait of a trailblazing musician who never shied from controversy.