Oleander, Jacaranda - by Penelope Lively (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A poignant and bittersweet memoir from the distinguished British fiction writer Penelope Lively, Oleander, Jacaranda evokes the author's unusual childhood growing up English in Egypt during the 1930s and 1940s. Filled with the birds, animals and planets of the Nile landscape that the author knew as a child, Oleander, Jacaranda follows the young Penelope from a visit to a fellaheen village to an afternoon at the elegant Gezira Sporting Club, one milieu as exotic to her as the other. 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 childhood.

From the Back Cover

A poignant and bittersweet memoir from the distinguished British fiction writer Penelope Lively, Oleander, Jacaranda evokes the author's unusual childhood growing up English in Egypt during the 1930s and 1940s. Filled with the birds, animals and plants of the Nile landscape that the author knew as a child, Oleander, Jacaranda follows the young Penelope from a visit to a fellaheen village to an afternoon at the elegant Gezira Sporting Club, one milieu as exotic to her as the other.

Review Quotes

"Vivid . . . forthright and witty. . . . [Lively] turns her hand to autobiography with the same depth of feeling and meaning that characterizes her fiction."-- "New York Times Book Review""The vivid confusions of childhood and the shadings that come with retrospect are seemingly blended."-- Merle Rubin, "Wall Street Journal""A quite stunning mediation on the archaeology of memory and time's predations."-- "Kirkus Review" (starred review)