Oleander, Jacaranda

'So vividly evocative that you can smell the dust and dung, jacaranda and the oleander. It offers potent glimpses of British colonial life 50 years ago: the snake-charmer in the garden; the nine-year old Penelope spying on de Gaulle at Government House. The result is a wise, colourful and touching tale' The Times. This poignant, bittersweet autobiography is about growing up in Egypt. Yet it is also an investigation into childhood itself, in which the author uses herself and her memories as an insight into how children see and know. Vividly conveying the sights and sounds of Eygpt up to, and including, World War II, from a lonely little girl's point of view, Lively's memoir offers us the rare opportunity to accompany a gifted writer on a journey of exploration into the mysterious world of her own past.