Neville Spearman, London, 1969. First edition. 202pp. Textured red pape rover boards; dust jacket. Light bumping at spine ends, a hint of dust soiling to bottom board edges, else near fine in a very good jacket with small chips out at head of spine. As a young girl, Minou Drouet drew attention for her highly precocious poetry, prompting spirited public debate about whether her mother was in fact the true author. Barthes devoted an entire essay to Drouet in the French version of "Mythologies", and Cocteau rather infamously remarked about her that ?All nine-year- olds have genius ?except Minou Drouet.? "Donatella" is her first novel, written when Drouet was 23, the "story of a little boy who loses his sight in a desperate bid to bring his parents together, and of Donatella, the young guitar player who interrutpts her stage career in order to be a nurse." Translated from the French by Margaret Crosland.
