• MARILYN MONROE: PRIVATE AND UNDISCLOSED BY MICHELLE MORGAN

This is a wonderfully comprehensive guide to Marilyn’s life with no sensationalism or conspiracy. Sticking to the facts with sources, just how I like it! This biography is succinct, to the point and well-written. Michelle’s writing style makes Marilyn’s life easy to follow and is perfect for any Marilyn fan, new or old.

• ICON: THE LIFE, TIMES, AND FILMS OF MARILYN MONROE 1 & 2 BY GARY VITACCO-ROBLES

If you want a much more in-depth biography these two are it. Gary delves into not just the facts of Marilyn’s life but also her films, her psyche and discusses the myths that surround many of the events in her life. Highly detailed and very heavy!

• MY STORY BY MARILYN MONROE AND BEN HECHT

Ghostwritten by Ben Hecht, this is Marilyn’s story all the way up to 1954. I read this in one night! It’s a small but lovely book detailing, in Marilyn’s own words, her childhood and rise to fame. It genuinely feels as if she is talking to you. The book wasn’t published until a decade after Marilyn’s death and I’m sure she would’ve had so much more to tell. It’s such a shame we didn’t get the other eight years of her life in this autobiography.

• FRAGMENTS BY MARILYN MONROE

Is there anything more honest than handwritten notes? Some people feel this book is intrusive of Marilyn’s privacy because of the personal content. However, if diaries, journals, letters and notes have taught us anything over history, it’s that these documents provide us with a deeper understanding of people’s mindsets. That’s what Fragments does. It allows us to perceive a more private and “real” side to Marilyn.

• MY SISTER MARILYN BY BERNIECE AND MONA RAE MIRACLE

With the help of her daughter, Mona Rae, Berniece Miracle wrote about the relationship she shared with her half-sister. For years she kept her silence but decided she wanted to share this personal account. This is a side to Marilyn we don’t get to see often and provides a glimpse of what life was like for the sisters who lived in very different worlds. The book DOES have a few errors and mix-ups, but that doesn’t take away from the bond Marilyn and Bernierce shared.

• MIMOSA BY RALPH ROBERTS

Like My Sister Marilyn, this book encapsulates a personal relationship with Marilyn but this time it’s from her friend and masseuse, Ralph Roberts. Ralph found it hard getting his memories of his time with Marilyn published because his tale wasn’t sensational but to me, there’s nothing more sensational than hearing personal accounts of people’s time with Marilyn.

• WHEN MARILYN MET THE QUEEN BY MICHELLE MORGAN

After many painstaking years, hard work and dedication, Michelle Morgan’s latest masterpiece on Marilyn Monroe does not disappoint. When Marilyn Met The Queen is everything My Week With Marilyn should have been but instead of fluff and fiction, we are given facts about Marilyn’s life in England in 1956 whilst filming The Sleeping Prince (aka The Prince and the Showgirl).