It’s hard to imagine who this book is written for. All three of these artists, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon, peaked in the early 1970s. They have continued to bring out albums, but nothing has had the impact of their early work. Their audiences dwindled over the decades.

Sheila Weller’s portraits of these three women are not happy ones. Their lives explode with unexpected pregnancies, wandering husbands, dreary affairs, divorces, drugs, suicide attempts, and a spiraling out of control.

Perhaps this book should be read as a cautionary tale.