Books by Eleanor Berry

AN ISLE of Wight-based writer has released a remarkable new memoir  that charts an extraordinary journey — far removed from the quiet  coastal village she now calls home.

Born into Britain’s powerful newspaper dynasty — Eleanor Berry, the  daughter of Michael Berry (later, Lord Hartwell) and granddaughter of F.  E. Smith — she was expected to follow a traditional path.

Instead, at just 17, she defied her family, joined the Communist Party  and travelled alone to Soviet Moscow, where she began a life of  rebellion.

Her memoir, entitled My Father Was a Newspaper Man, traces that unlikely path.

Eleanor taught herself fluent Russian, navigated the contradictions of  Soviet life, and later moved in the tumultuous orbit of media tycoon,  Robert Maxwell, whose chaotic household she paints with both wit and  weary insight.

There are laugh‑out‑loud moments throughout, yet the book never loses  sight of the political and personal tensions that shaped her.

Now settled in Bembridge, Eleanor reflects on decades spent shifting  between privilege, ideology and the eccentric corners of the British  media world.

Best known for her darkly comic, macabre novels, Eleanor has written  more than 30 books — drawing inspiration from Gorki, Dostoevsky, Gogol,  Poe and James Hadley Chase.

The book, in paperback, is available through Troubador Publishing.

Jon Moreno - Isle of Wight County Press