In 1929 an eight-year-old child, who had very few relations, imagined an assortment of eccentric aunts, uncles and cousins. She wrote and illustrated a little book about them, which her grandmother kept.
Robin Dalton was born in Sydney, and lived in London from 1946. She was a television performer, an intelligence agent, a literary agent and a film producer (Madame Souzatska starring Shirley Maclaine; Oscar and Lucinda starring Cate Blanchett), as well as an author. Her 1965 account of her childhood in Kings Cross, Aunts up the Cross remains an...
<i>I have an aunt whose single-blessedness has soured her to the world. Aunt Alenia, like many other unmarried ladies, is always trying to bring up her sister's children. Unfortunately I am an only child, so that she may lavish all her care and affections upon me. I am sure Aunt Alenia must have been a model of good behaviour in her childhood. I always dread her visits, for no matter how well I behave she always finds fault with me. She means well, I am sure, but she doesn't mean much. She is dear, good, lady, but I often wish she had some children of her own.</i><br>