Doris Lessing talks about how World War One damaged her parents and how the trenches continue to haunt her 90 years later. In the first half of Alfred & Emily, she writes an alternate biography, imagining what her parents' lives might have been like, and what Britain might have been like, if World War One had not happened. I liked this part. It was a fairy tale with a realistic edge.In the second half of the book, she presents a series of short items about what really happened to her parents, what the family's lives were like in Southern Rhodesia, and her issues with her mother. I was struck by her repeated comments about how her father's diabetes would have been treated differently today.
I had not read any of her stories since I was in college.
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