cover image Patchwork Child: Early Memories

Patchwork Child: Early Memories

Brooke Astor. Random House (NY), $35 (263pp) ISBN 978-0-679-42687-5

Philanthropist Astor, who has written an autobiography ( Footprints ) and a novel ( The Last Blossom on the Plum Tree ), here reissues a memoir of her early years, originally published in 1961 and out of print since 1982. New from the author, now in her 90s, is a revised introduction, eight pages of color photographs, additional illustrations and affecting excerpts from her childhood diaries. As the only child of a career Marine officer who was the son of an admiral and a mother from a moneyed background, her early years were privileged if somewhat lonely. Accompanying her parents to her father's foreign posts, Astor spent time in Hawaii, Panama, China and Santo Domingo. Such travels provided her with skills and polish (she spoke fluent Chinese), but she was frequently isolated and related to dolls better than to other children. Astor, whose memoir has a refreshingly homey quality, is appreciative of her parents for the love they gave her, their encouragement of her inquiring mind and the excellent education she received. (Nov.)