The Happy Hooker [antikvár]

lo A FAMILY AFFAIR Don't think of me as a poor little girl gone astray because of a misguided or underprivileged childhood. The contrary is true. I come from a very good background and grew up in a loving family atmosphere. I was born in Indonesia and later received a fine European education. Between my parents and myself ¦we speak a total of twelve languages—I personally speak seven fluently. Mother, a stately blond of German and French extraction, was serious-minded but warm and utterly devoted to her family. She was my doctor-father's second wife. His first wife, a White Russian ballerina, had left Indonesia witli their only daughter immediately after their divorce. His marriage with my mother was a happy one, even though they were opposites in personality and temperament. There was never any question that he loved only my mother, despite a twinkling eye for a pretty girl. My father, whom I idolized, was a rare human being—an intellectual, raconteur, lover of the arts, bon vivant, and a truly generous-spirited man. At the height of his highly successful medical career, he owned a large hospital in the then-Dutch East Indies, and I later learned that we had two palatial homes, one ia Soerabaja and the other in the hill resort