Jennifer Paterson
My great favourite this year is unquestion- ably Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, her first novel (Black Swan, £5.99). It is a wonderful story, part magic, part romance of great fiery feelings, part cookery, part adventure and very funny to boot. You are swept along by great tides of outrageous circumstances; the heroine was so sensitive to onions from her mother's womb that she was born in a great flood of tears on the kitchen table, ruining the noodle soup. You must read it if only to learn the receipt for Quail in Rose Petal Sauce to enflame your loves.
Late as usual in my reading, I thought Andrew Barrow's The Tap Dancer (Picador, £5.99) one of the most enchant- ingly told tales of the father and sons in a very surreal family. I'm glad it won some great prize.
Maurice Guest by Henry Handel Richardson (Virago, now out of print) was all very interesting about musical life in Leipzig at the beginning of the century, but I wanted to hit every character in this mournful tale.
The best serious book was Death Plus Ten Years by Roger Cooper (Harper- Collins, £17.50) about his imprisonment for five years in the dreaded Evin prison in Tehran. Ironic, brave and patient, it is a gripping and astounding tale. No self pity. An admirable man.
A must for all youngsters is the new edition of The Little Princesses by Marion Crawford, introduced by A. N. Wilson (Duckworth, £14.99) — the intimate story of HRH Princess Elizabeth and HRH Princess Margaret by their governess, the first of the great leakers.
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