As a committed environmental activist and one of the founding directors of Greenpeace UK, Susi Newborn was a woman with burning issues, unafraid to speak out and take direct action.
She was there on the Arctic ice floes, preventing sealers from bludgeoning baby seals; she rode Zodiacs between the whalers' harpoons and the whales; and she signed the cheque that bought the Sir William Hardy, the Scottish fishing trawler she later renamed the Rainbow Warrior, and of which she was one of the original crew.
As the daughter of an Argentinean diplomat serving the Peronist Junta in London and Europe, she was born to an exotic life of privilege. All this came to an abrupt end when her father died in London in mysterious circumstances. Susi then chose a life of environmental activism, which put her in the heart of the Greenpeace phenomenon, on speaking terms with rock stars and celebrities, and made her the confidante of Spike Milligan.
'A Bonfire In My Mouth' provides a fascinating picture of the birth of Greenpeace, as well as being a powerful, passionate and revealing autobiography of a strong, resourceful and fascinating woman, who has lived on the edge and put her body on the line for her beliefs.
