Leaves from the Fig Tree

With humour, eloquence, empathy and delightful Gaelic charm, Diana, as a child, travels from Johannesburg to Ireland to a stately home with world-famous gardens. While the talk above stairs was of horses, rare plants and fishing; below stairs it was of banshees, the little people, ráths and the foxy-haired ghost. As an adult she returned to Africa, where she doubled for Grace Kelly in Mogambo; unwittingly employed a Mau Mau leader; met the king of cheetah racing; challenged the authorities at the height of apartheid - and emerged victorious. 'Diana Duff's memoir is feisty, humorous and poignant. It's an evocation of a lifestyle that the world will never accommodate again - particularly in Africa. More's the pity, because somehow we don't seem to breed such iconoclastic, fey and nonconformist characters any more. Diana has a remarkable memory for detail, and she writes with a kind of wry wit that is most engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Leaves from the Fig Tree' and look forward to Diana's next book.' - Patricia Glyn, broadcaster, journalist, committed African and author of Footing with Sir Richard's Ghost and Off Peak. 'The Kikiyu people ... were to me fascinating ... the descriptive way in which they spoke of things, illustrating with hand and tongue a thing that had happened, so that it came alive. One spoke to me once of years passing and conjured up a picture of a great fig tree, the leaves falling, each leaf another year of his life.'