A remarkable, truthful and vivid evocation of childhood, from the author of "Stet", "After a Funeral", "Don't Look At Me Like That" and "Instead of a Letter". Diana Athill has written three memoirs which have been acclaimed as classics for their insight, candour and wit: "Instead of a Letter", "After a Funeral" and, most recently, "Stet - an editor's life". Here she goes back to the beginning, in a sharp evocation of a childhood unfashionably filled with happiness - a Norfolk country house, servants, the pleasures of horses, the unfolding secrets of adults and sex. This is England in the 1920s, seen (with a clear and unsentimental eye) from the vantage point of England in 2001. It was a privileged and loving life: but did it equip her to be happy?