... REALISM versus ESCAPISM Airmen in the Headlines; A Victorian Reverie; The Spanish War Again; Glasgow in the '70's -By Vernon Fane MR. NOEL MONKS had the good fortune to be attached to the Royal Air Force as a war correspondent in France during last winter. He was also lucky enough to spend a lot of his time with No. 73 Fighter Squadron, of which Cobber Kain was a member. SQUADRONS UP ...

... Experiences and Memoirs In Ihe Provinces and in an American Village --By Vernon Fane IT cannot be said of Miss E. M. Dela- field's provincial lady that she rises to occasions, but she has at least an inspired way of muddling through them. The latest chronicle of her adventures, THE PROVIN CIAL LADY IN WAR-TIME (Macmillan. 7s. 6d.), is as amusing as ever, and has the same ruefully acknowledged ...

... --By Vernon Fane A Biographical Study of Marie Corelli and Some Other Interesting Books THIS week has provided such a very mixed and very entertaining bag that I shall not attempt to sort them out or classify them in any sort of order of merit. You pays your money and you takes my choice; and here it is. Not one of these books is either dull or negligible, though it is highly improbable that ...

... VARIATIONS IN LITERARY FORM This Week's Books Cater For All Tastes -By Vernon Fane MISS MONICA DICKENS will be remembered as the author of One Pair of Hands, a quite unusual, entertaining and courageous book, in which she recounted her experiences as maid-of- all-work, from which she eventually graduated to the dizzy height of cook-general. It revealed an adventurous personality and a sense of ...

... LITERATURE for the SERIOUS-MINDED World Affairs are the Subjects of this Week's Books -By Vernon Fane TO many of us the year 1936 may seem like the day before yesterday. But a few years removed, and how far it is. Mr. Philip Guedalla, equipped with all the up-to-date armament, offensive and defensive, of the modern historian, tackles this year, pregnant with world-shaking events, in THE ...

... FICTIONAL VARIETY of the WEEK A Blood; A Story of the Air; The Study of an Explorer; and Others -By Vernon Fane IT seems only a day or two ago that I was reviewing a book of Mr. A. G. Macdonell's, and here he is again with THE CREW OF THE ANACONDA (Macmillan. 7s. 6d.), a grand ''blood, which is none the less authentic for lacking lurid, illustra tions. I heartily recommend it-- indeed ...

... PHILIP PAGE on Good Hellish Effects at Sadler's Wells-- A Naughty Butler Tries to Blackmail at the New Theatre A Powerful Play af the Westminster THE season of Ballet at Sadler's Wells has been far too short-- the company has now gone on tour again-- but it has been an important event in its way. Also, it has been marked by the production of a new work of great skill which should take a ...

... NOTABLE BOOKS of the WEEK Autobiographies and Political Reportage -By Vernon Fane MR. JOHN FARLEIGH'S best known work, as a wood engraver, is possibly the part he played in the production of Mr. Bernard Shaw's The Black Girl, in which his illustrations were an integral part, designed in close collaboration with the author, and in no sense an afterthought. Be nas cauea i^kavcn imauc tivtacmuian ...

... SEVEN NOVELS FOR THE WEEK A Varied Collection for the Bookshelf -By Vernon Fane A story has no locus except the air, So many nice people are used to declare. Characters must live in a vacuum. Avoid the world, especially the scum. It's wicked to mention to the spectator Words such as war, democracy, dictator SO writes Mr. George Buchanan in an intro ductory note to THE SOLDIER AND THE GIRL ...

... THE MEMOIRS OF A GOVERNOR-GENERAL John Buchan Roger Fry Some Defectives and Spies By Vernon Fane The original Wilton Carpet factory, established in the seventeenth century, is now closing down owing to lack of orders. Its passing will be sorely mourned by its aged and faithful employees, only twenty of whom, out of 150, remain to finish standing orders. The romantic history of the factory ...

... FROM BALLET to BATTLE -By Vernon Fane. Diaghilev, Dictator of Ballet Two New Travel Books The Epic of Dunkirk and a War Thriller IT might be necessary to be a balleto mane to reach the proper degree of excitement at the appearance of the LIFE OF DIAGHILEV, by Serge Lifar (Putnam. 21s.), although the emotional disturbance might vary according to the school. Not being a balletomane, but merely ...

... CHARACTER STUDY NOVELS of TO-DAY The Vagaries of Human Nature As a Fictional Theme -By Vernon Fane AN eminent critic has said of Mr. Graham Greene that he is one of the really significant novelists writing in any language. That THE POWER AND THE GLORY (Heinemann. 8s. 3d.) is a novel which demands more than ordinary attention is apparent to anyone after reading the first three pages. For Mr. ...