Real Life, by Marsha Hunt (Flamingo, £6.99 in UK)

Here's a showbiz memoir with several differences. Neither gushy nor sensational, the narrative is a direct, honest, conversational attempt at describing the author's experiences and varied career during the wild and now distant years of the 1960s and 70s. Even for a reader with no interest in the pop and rock scenes, it interests as Hunt explains the various dilemmas facing a Black American. Above all, this is a human, often touching account of a single mother's relationship with her daughter.