Product Description

When Allegra Huston was four years old, her mother was killed in a car crash. Soon afterward, she was introduced to an intimidating man wreathed in cigar smoke -- the legendary film director John Huston -- with the words, "This is your father."

So began an extraordinary odyssey: from the magical Huston estate in Ireland to the Long Island 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's is the penetrating gaze of an outsider never quite sure if she belongs in this rarefied world and of a motherless child trying to make sense of her famous, fragmented family. Then, at the age of twelve, Allegra's precarious sense of self was shattered when she was, once more, introduced to her father -- her real one this time, the British aristocrat and historian John Julius Norwich.

At the heart of Love Child is Allegra's search through the unreliable certainties of memory for the widely adored mother she never knew -- the ghost who shadowed her childhood and left her in a web of awkward and unwelcome truths. With clear-eyed tenderness, Allegra tells of how she forged bonds with both her famous fathers, transforming her mother's difficult legacy into a hard-won blessing. Beautifully written and forensically honest, Love Child is a seductive insight into one of Hollywood's great dynasties and the story of how, in a family that defied convention, one woman found her balance on the shifting sands of conflicting loyalties.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115300 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781416551577
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Huston�s memoir begins when she is five years old, learning of her mother�s death from her godfather. Although she is sent to live with her father, the film director John Huston, he is an intermittent presence in her life. Then, when she is 12, Allegra�s stepmother informs her that her real father is the British historian John Julius Norwich. Huston, who spent several years as an editor in British publishing before creating a writers� workshop in New Mexico, skillfully integrates her childhood memories with revelations from her mother�s correspondence, recounting her often-awkward encounters with my dad (Huston) and my father (Norwich) with great sensitivity. Although she spent part of her adolescence living with her older sister, Anjelica, there isn�t much in the way of Hollywood gossip beyond fleeting scenes of Marlon Brando playing chess and verbal abuse from Ryan O�Neal. Instead, the emphasis lies in young Allegra�s constant feelings of alienation and the subtle development of familial affections that culminate with Hustons and Norwichs coming together to witness the christening of her own son. Where many memoirists compete to see who�s had the most outrageous life, this story stands out in its quiet poignancy. 16 pages of b&w photographs not seen by PW. (Apr.)
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Review
"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

Review
"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

Customer Reviews

Gracefully done
I don't usually read memoirs, thinking them less interesting than the thrillers and mysteries that I usually read. So I smiled as I forced myself to close the book, unfinished, last night because I needed to get to sleep. This morning I snuggled back under a blanket to read to the end. I would say that's the sign of a well written tale and it smashed my prejudice against the genre. What was I thinking!

At first I was drawn to the story because of the Huston family connection. Even from the beginning, I'm sure I was looking forward to the 'good stuff' about father, John Huston, and sister Anjelica, and the film industry. But soon it was Allegra who I wanted to know.

Details of the more recent years are missing, although we do peek in on her current life in Taos NM, where Allegra seems happy and fulfilled, connected to family in every direction.

Brilliantly written
Absolutely brilliant. LOVE CHILD marks the debut of a major writer.

Allegra Huston's powers of description and characterization are breathtaking. Her portrait of John Huston is quite simply a masterpiece: she has written the classic portrait of one of Hollywood's most complex, fascinating, and elusive characters.

Huston has peopled the pages of her dramatic and heartbreaking memoir with a whole gallery of unforgettable characters. And the voice of the child Allegra herself will haunt you long after you have finished the book.

Ireland, Mexico, Malibu, and London--all come to vivid life in her talented hands. This is a book of rare intelligence and sensitivity.

Should be an Oprah Book Club pick
Yes, it's that good. A story of fate, love, family, sex, loss, and redemption, Love Child is a tender, courageous memoir that is remarkably readable, intelligent and moving. Allegra is a masterful story teller, but beyond that she's funny, humane and endearingly self-aware. Most memoirs recount facts, this one invites us in and I often found myself wanting to talk back when someone was harsh to her. I wanted to hide out in the tress to catch a glimpse of her crazy grandfather doing hand stands on the widow's walk of one of the many homes she grew up in and I laughed out loud when Jack played an outrageous practical joke on Marlon Brando. I wanted to know her and in the end I wanted her to have a storybook ending. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time as a reminder that there is very little that can't be overcome if you let love find you -- and if this wonderful story isn't enough, there's a sixteen page family photo album in the middle that by itself is worth the price of the book!