cover image A Single Step

A Single Step

Heather Mills McCartney. Warner Books, $24.95 (327pp) ISBN 978-0-446-53165-8

First published in England in 1995 under the title Out On A Limb, this autobiography shows a rosy-cheeked, optimistic McCartney recounting her life from troubled childhood to storybook romance with Paul McCartney. The author spent her childhood and teens bouncing from home to home, evading the blows of her abusive father. At 13, she ran away to work at a street fair and eventually found herself living,""cold and stiff inside my Pampers box,"" under a bridge. After a car accident interrupted her modeling career and left her with a partially amputated leg, McCartney determined that""something good is going to come out of this accident."" She started her own non-profit organization to benefit amputee victims worldwide and eventually gained enough media attention to join forces with the UN-endorsed Adopt-a-Minefield. Her up-by-the-bootstraps tale ends with an update on her courtship to Paul, and after 37 houses in 34 years, one can hardly blame her for settling down a bit and taking a few vacations to the beach (which, incidentally, is probably the best place to read this breezy look at one of England's most-discussed new celebrities).