"LOVE CHILD: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found" by Allegra Huston, Simon and Schuster, 289 pages, $26.95
Allegra Huston, daughter of legendary film director John Huston and younger sister of actress Anjelica Huston, has penned a memoir not so much about growing up in a famous family as about growing up.
Four-year-old Allegra meets her father for the first time after her mother is killed in a car crash. She goes to live with him for a time but is subsequently shuttled from her father's house to a string of homes with friends and relatives. Allegra, struggling to find her own place in each unfamiliar world, comes to learn more about her family — the remote movie director father, the beautiful mother she can barely remember, the famous sister. Allegra also must confront the secret that had been kept from her — the truth of her own parentage.
Although the book is populated with mansions and movie stars, Allegra Huston's story of a little girl who grows up feeling like an outsider can be appreciated by anyone who has ever felt out of place. Huston, a freelance writer and editor, is a talented writer who brings her story out through sharp details and poignant memories.
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