This is the memoir of Allegra Huston whose mother, Enrica Soma, was unhappily married to Movie Director John Huston. Allegra's mother died when she was 4 years old and she was sent to live with John Huston, who was mostly absent.

When John married Cici (wife #5), Allegra went to live with Cici and continued to live with her after Cici & John divorced. Eventually, Allegra moved in with her sister Anjelica. Shortly afterward, Cici arranged for Allegra to meet her biological father Sir John Justin Norwich, who up until their meeting Allegra had no idea existed.

Through Allegra's writing we get a glimpse of life in John & Anjelica Huston's households, not always a pretty picture, and what life was like for a "Child of Love", although John did take legal & financial responsibility for Allegra & his son Danny (who was his son by his mistress Zoe Sallis).

I almost put the book down as the first part of the book is a conglomerate of poorly written disjointed and sketchy memories. After all, how much does a 4 actually remember and how much is conjecture?

The latter part of the memoir is much more interesting than the beginning due to the fact that the memories contained therein are more accurate and written about people I can identify.




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Book 26 of 2009