"It's not worth leaving the light on for you," the nanny says as she flicks off the switch and shuts the door.

The little girl Helen, born in 1919, and brought up in outwardly privileged circumstances, is made to feel worthless by a succession of 'stiff and starchy nannies', as well as her parents, worried that she is 'M.D.' (mentally deficient). But with astonishing and uplifting resilience and creativity, she weathers the turbulence of childhood, youth, a failed marriage, motherhood and the attentions of therapists, analysts and doctors, some marvellously redemptive, others exploitative, abusive and destructive, and survives 'still sane' to write this moving, funny, absorbing account of her life.

Living till 100, Helen Greeves 'leaves the light on' for us, illuminating a personality both profound and full of wit and charm.