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Chernobyl Strawberries by Vesna Goldsworthy

The title is provocative and Vesna is Serbian, but the book does not refer specifically to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and may be the author's bleak reference to her breast cancer experience. She is a determined survivor but possibly the reflections on her own mortality led her to record her life before turning 50.

This is an enigmatic and compulsive read as Vesna has the cynical wit of an early Tom Sharpe, or Robertson Davies and, in addition, manages to weave into her narrative a haunting whiff of foreboding.

As a memoir it does not narrow-band her episode with cancer but rather lets it form a parallel theme with her early bourgeois life in Belgrade and the growing nuances of political strife leading to hostility between Albania and Serbia.

She became a communist near the time of her acceptance as a British citizen and swore an oath of allegiance to - as she terms it - QE2. Working at the BBC Newsdesk in London she is involved with interpretation and overseas broadcasting during the Bosnian war.

A characteristic of her text is that different phases are not necessarily connected in chronological order (a style which annoys some readers), but rather by a personal prompt that triggers a sequence of association.

If the author is a little quirky on this point then she is right on the gong when going for the kill with words of mass destruction. The quintessence of her descriptions leaves a resonance humming in your ears for a long time.

This “word-mongering” ability is easily understood when you realise that she has been writing poetry since the age of 12. Some analogies are exquisite, eg “boots falling on frozen snow like silver spoons on crème brulee”.

Throughout the book there is a strong patriotic acknowledgement of her cultural inheritance, as well as a well-researched family history.

Most people would see her early time frame as a huge contrast to her present day role as a director of English studies at a London university, but Vesna's life has been full of diversity and it seems almost expected.

A Lion In the Bedroom by Pat Cavendish O'Neill Local authors are doing well at the moment and many readers will associate this author with the famous Broadlands Stud, set on the slopes of the Helderberg, close to Somerset West.

As a book written by an heiress who will be celebrating her 80th birthday this year, the contents have to be anecdotal and heavily laced with high profile personalities dripping with disclosures - and it is.

For some it would have been enough to leave the kiss of Cartland upon it, but after moving through a few pages, it becomes apparent that the Tutors, Nannies, Houseboats and Country Homes were the actual components of her reality, and that out of them grew an unusual individual who was not consumed by wealth, but used it as a base to develop her own lifestyle.

Her style of recounting her life is open and unaffected towards all levels of experience and relationships. Possibly the best example of this are in the disclosures of her mother's four marriages and numerous lovers, none of which damaged the lifelong bond of love and admiration she felt for her.

In fact, in many ways the book is a tribute to her mother's unconventional spirit of adventure, sense of fair play and an unqualified love for creatures great and small. Although she did not suspect it of herself in her younger years, Pat has perpetuated these qualities for another generation.

Her comments on her marriage (twice) to Frank O'Neill are open and without rancour, their friendship seeming to survive the most determined efforts of a serial philanderer.

Some wives reading this will find her sublime philosophy on acceptance a little difficult. She never seems to experience any jealousy.

It is in the section of her book dealing with her experiences in Kenya, with its well-ordered English colonial lifestyle that her life takes an unexpected turn when Stan, the new man in her life, presents her with a orphan lioness cub. She calls the cub Tana. A unique relationship develops between the two that ultimately has to be resolved as a bitter/sweet experience of tough love.

The book combines the social elegance and intrigue of glittering society with a great love for Africa, its people and animals. It makes big screen entertainment in your head as you read. It is also simply told and sincere.

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