... STARTLING, original, pos sibly even shocking to a number of readers, is Mr. Robert Graves' KING JESUS (Cassell. 12s. 6d.). In this long book, which I sometimes felt as I read it was overburdened with the detail that may prove erudition, the author develops a theory that Jesus was born of an earthly father and mother, and that He was the temporal heir to Herod's kingdom. The book is written in ...

... 800K REVIEWS ELIZABETH BOWES S The Life of the Heart Westwood How to be An Alien In the A9ey Mayo Trio THE LIFE OF THE HEART, by Frances Winwar (Hamish Hamilton; 12s. 6d.), is the story of George Sand and her times. And what a story! This astonishing Frenchwoman was born in 1804; died in 1876. As a little girl, she exchanged a glance with Napoleon; she was to live through (and at close ...

... THE LITERARY LOUNGER. By K. JOHN. THE SIXTH HEAVEN. By L. P. Hartley. IN the unrelenting flow of current fiction-- much of it expert work-- it is very hard to retain impressions; each new novel becomes a wave obliterating the one before. At the time one may think differently, and label this or that outstanding, but the chances are that in a month or two the outstanding will be levelled ...

... DEATH IK THE THIRTEENTH DOSE. By Belton Cobb. When Detective-Inspector Cheviot Burmann set out to seek the murderer of old Mrs. Vance he was accompanied by Sergeant Ross, newly- returned to the Yard after having been invalided out of the Forces. Ross described himself as the dutiful lamb following at Cheviot's heels, but any respectable lamb would have blushed through his wool to have ...

... IT is characteristic of Mr. James W. Drawbell that he should find in a poem by D. H. Lawrence the title of his book DRIFTS MY BOAT (Hutchinson. 12s. 6d.). Those who think of busy journalists and hard-driven and hard bitten editors of national news papers as tough individuals working sixteen hours a day on hard news stories, should pause to consider Mr. Drawbell's affection for a lovely poem ...

... RAISING THE STANDARDS OF BOOK PRODUCTION Two Notable Bird Books are Just Published We have gone for so long without well-printed, bound and illustrated books that some of the latest publica tions inevitably invite eulogies. In this long-awaited departure from the rigid wartime economy standards the house of Collins has led the way, and they are to be congratulated on their post-war pioneering. ...

... ENGLISH children, as well as American children, will now have a new Mouse to add to their collection of friends, where Mickey has reigned alone for so long. The new representative of the race can't be said to compete exactly with the film rodent; he is a character on his own and in a different medium. Mr. E. B. White is probably best known as a member of the brilliant staff of writers ...

... ELIZABETH BOWES'S Jonathan Wild The State of Mind of Mrs. Sherwood 6th Guards Tank Brigade The Little Kingdom JONATHAN WILD is an early crook novel, or gangster story. It would be incorrect to call it the first: when Jonathan Wild was published in 1743 it could claim its place in an already flourishing school of rogue literature. Indeed, our ancestors shared, for several centuries ...

... TL Christmas A ftersrlow CHRISTMAS this year, but for its warm and happy afterglow in the theatre, might have seemed to tightly rationed children an affair of a few hectic hours-- a sudden ecstatic surfeit followed by the hangover they are not yet old enough to accept philosophic ally. Now that parties are the deuce to feed adequately it is the theatre which must prolong the day or two of ...

... The Alchemist (New) THERE is general surprise that London's liveliest, lowest, most laughable show should be from the classic pen of Jonson. Few of us, if we are honest, can set ourselves up beside the hero who picked the piece for the Old Vic and say, I told you so! I told you that if this piece were properly played Mr. Ralph Richardson, Mr. George Relph. Mr. Alec Guinness and their ...

... REVIEWED BY ELIZABETH BOWES The Sixth Heaven The Contemporary Theatre Transformation Scene THE SIXTH HEAVEN (Putnam; 8s. 6d.) is the continuation of L. P. Hartley's The Shrimp and the Anemone. A third volume, which is to conclude the story of Eustace Cherrington and his sister Hilda, is announced for the spring of this year. Deliberately I have avoided the word sequel, with its suggestion ...

... SHORTER REVIEWS From the Latest Publishers' Lists In the years before the war, with a few very weighty exceptions provided by Taylor Caldwell, Margaret Mitchell and Hervey Allan, the novel tended to achieve a standard size and a standard price. Since the war the length of novels has decreased markedly, and while this is not altogether an evil, it must, on the other hand, invite comment from ...