Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived

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.