Love Child - by Allegra Huston (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

- Inside a legendary American family: Allegra Huston was the third child of John Huston's fourth wife, the beautiful ballet dancer Ricki Soma. In this graceful, penetrating memoir, Allegra takes us into the world of a child unmoored by her mother's sudden death and sent on an odyssey which took her from John Huston's fabulous estate in Ireland, to the American suburbs, to a hidden paradise in Mexico--and, at the side of her older sister Anjelica, into the hilltop retreats of Jack Nicholson, Ryan O'Neal, and Marlon Brando. Allegra paints a vivid, caring, and affecting portrait of her parents and the luminous circle of friends, acquaintances, lovers, and artists who were a part of family life. .

- A revelatory twist and family connection: At the age of twelve Allegra Huston discovered her biological father to be the British aristocrat and historian John Julius Norwich. Suffused with a quiet intensity of emotion, Love Child explores family secrets and family bonds, and the unreliable certainties of memory--and ends with an unexpected triumph..

Review Quotes

"A stunning and unusual memoir...this is simply a wonderful book -- part mystery, part journey, part heartbreak." -- Liz Smith, Variety

"Allegra Huston's account of her extraordinary early years, with its numerous, generally painful revelations, excels at capturing a child's-eye view of the chaotic adult world...scrupulously honest...wonderful." -- Christopher Hart, The Sunday Times (UK)

"Allegra Huston's tender, heartbreaking and utterly riveting account of life...Love Child is an extraordinary story, beautifully told. [A] near-flawless memoir." -- Miranda Seymour, The Daily Mail (UK)

"As an adult, [Huston] realized how special her circumstances were.... [Love Child is] a memoir about her nomadic, singular life." -- Susan King, Los Angeles Times

"Extraordinary...[Huston] is an absolutely outstanding writer, incapable of writing a dull sentence." -- Lynn Barber, Telegraph (UK)

"Few autobiographical writers have such dizzying tales to tell...fascinating." --Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"I was entranced by Love Child, Allegra Huston's irresistible memoir...fluent, vivid and gripping." -- Caryn James, The Huffington Post

"Skillfully written and rich with personal detail, this is a tumultuous story of loss, healing, and redemption." -- Larry Cox, The Tucson Citizen

"This extraordinary book reveals the all but unendurable sorrow of loss and the courage of those unwilling to live in a world without love. Allegra Huston's memoir glimmers with triumphant wisdom. She has, above all, a great conscience, understanding that it is only what is mysterious that survives." -- Susanna Moore, author of The Big Girls and In the Cut

"You will not read anything so sublimely felt and exquisitely written in a good many years...It's a highly satisfying moral tale and a surpassing delight to read." -- Melik Kaylan, Forbes.com