A review by sarahlogan
Alfred and Emily by Doris Lessing

4.0

What a strange book. The first half is the fictional life Lessing creates for her parents in England, an act of love giving them the life she feels they would have been their most happy; the second half is non-fictional, their actual, hard life in Southern Rhodesia in the years between WW1 and WW2. As always with Lessing, both parts are so vivid and rich and brave.

Growing up in Zimbabwe, there were stories of Lessing and her life there; this book, in explaining what her childhood was like, has made a lot more sense of these stories for me.