From Publishers Weekly Daughter of Hollywood producer/ screenwriter Nunnally Johnson and actress Dorris Bowdon， the author spent her childhood， after her parents' divorce， shuttling between parents and coasts. She eloquently evokes the 1940s and '50s: the war years and postwar Communist paranoia， bombed-out London and the enormous pressure on women to marry. Johnson also vividly contrasts New York， with its cocktail parties and cabs， and Los Angeles， with its swimming pools and chauffeurs. Intelligent， curious and troubled， the adolescent Johnson is absolutely privileged， except she doesn't feel at home in either family. This is a book full of superstars， and the confusion and loneliness of a child of divorce are amplified by the proximity of celebrities. When the teenaged Johnson and a pal attend a grown-up party， mean， drunk Johnny Mercer insults Johnson's bulimic girlfriend， and Humphrey Bogart comes to the rescue. At Smith， Johnson and Sylvia Plath attend a class together. Her descriptions of the poet are convincingly disturbing， as are those of talented classmates who abandoned bright futures for marriage. Eventually， Johnson herself succumbs， and in surprising contrast to the rest of the book's dreamy impressionism， she ends in high suspense， walking down the aisle in her bridal gown toward a man she doesn't love， unable to figure out how to say no. Copyright © Reed Business Information， a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist When your father is celebrated Hollywood screenwriter/producer Nunnally Johnson， and movie royalty such as Bogie and Bacall attend your birthday parties， life may seem impossibly exciting. But when your parents divorce and your mother tears you away from L.A.'s glamour for a more vagabond Manhattan milieu， your new life pales by comparison. Though she may have come from an enviable background， Johnson's pedigree couldn't protect her from the emotional turmoil faced by any child of a broken home. She was frequently lonely， certainly confused， and her peripatetic lifestyle is most definitely unenviable. With a foot in both camps and a stake in neither， Johnson finds herself routinely passed between two homes on two coasts. As she embarks on solitary cross-country train trips to visit one parent， then the other， Johnson seizes these opportunities to reflect on a remarkable， and fleeting， chapter in American culture while struggling to discover her own identity. An acclaimed author in her own right， Johnson， in this captivating coming-of-age memoir， reveals an ethereal time teeming with extraordinary people. Carol HaggasCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved