Anyone who's learned how to juggle motherhood and a career might consider adding another ball to spice up the act -that of guerrilla, perhaps? For 20 years Gioconda Belli worked as a clandestine activist for the Sandinistas. Unlike many others, she survived to tell the tale, and what a refreshingly funny and insightful tale it is.

Belli's family was upper-class, but it did not support Anastasio Somoza's entrenched dictatorship or the long history of US intervention in Nicaragua. While still a child, she was horrified to see the conditions endured by workers on her uncle's coffee plantation. At 18 she agreed to a society wedding, but her husband turned out to be a depressive who spent his time watching television or mournfully playing the harmonica.

Blackwell Bookshop

Purchase your copy here, 10% off RRP