Imagine This by JULIA BAIRD (Hodder, £7.99)

I was given this book by a friend and really enjoyed the account of Julia Baird's search for her own real identity which led her to the amazing discovery that she was John Lennon's sister. It is a very frank book, not afraid to tell the truth about John's often painful, lonely childhood. Poor John was sent away from his mother when he was only five - though we all know how he cared for his beloved Aunt Margaret (Mimi). In effect, he was to lose his mother twice. How tragic that, just as they were getting to know each other again, she was run down and killed outside Mimi's home by an off-duty policeman.
I was also impressed by Julia's kindness and consideration for her adoptive parents, deliberately waiting till they had passed on before attempting to trace and contact her real family.
Alas, it meant she never met John but she feels great happiness and comfort from the fact that he had hired detectives to find her and remembered her in his will. Yoko Ono also made contact with Julia and met her on several occasons.
This was a very involving and moving account of John's life and, of course, Julia's own life, too. I couldn't help wondering how different things might have been for everybody if Julia had been able to keep her children. Surely two of the saddest words in the English language must be "If only..."