Writer Doris Lessing spells out mankind 's dependence on stories . Lessing on storytelling : `` It 's always going on in one way or another . '' Her own life is itself a great story : born in Persia Her formal education ended at age 13 when she dropped out of a school in the Rhodesian capital Salisbury , and she left home at 15 to work as a nursemaid but remained a voracious reader -- `` I educated myself by reading . '' , she grew up in southern Africa . She was the daughter of an English father and a German mother ; her family moved to England when she was five years old.
Writer Doris Lessing spells out mankind 's dependence on stories . Lessing on storytelling : `` It 's always going on in one way or another . '' Her own life is itself a great story : born in Persia , she grew up in southern Africa . She was the daughter of an English father and a German mother ; her family moved to England when she was five years old.