... THERE are so many double meanings in Mr. Neil Gunn's new novel, THE KEY OF THE CHEST (Faber. 8s. 6d.), and so great is the weight of significance put on the smallest action that one only realises after reading it that the theme is slight. The story is set in a fishing village on the coast of the Scottish Highlands. The large house of the place, and the estate, are owned by Michael, a young, ...

... BOOK REVIEWS ELIZABETH BBWEI'S The Congress of Vienna Aurelien HAROLD NICOLSON'S The Congress of Vienna (Constable; I8s.) would be of the first interest at any time: its appearance this summer of 1946, the summer of the Paris Peace Conference, gives the book further value-- that of an almost uncanny concurrence with the trend of the reader's interests, ideas and thoughts. Mr. Nicolson has, ...

... Grand National Night (Apollo) AN evening of accomplished verbal fencing, Mr. Leslie Banks slowly giving ground, without loss of nerve, urbanity or fighting spirit, before the firm cut-and-thrust of a sharp-eyed but fair dealing detective-inspector. There is no mystery about the affair. Miss Hermione Baddeley, a jealous dipsomaniac, dashed off with an abandon stopping just short of burlesque, ...

... (Shakesppare at Stratford) A WEEK of spring-time playgoing at Stratford-on-Avon is pleasure- crammed, not all of the pleasures theatrical. The blossoming Cotswolds by day are almost as much part of the festival as the Memorial Theatre by night, and if your party's pool of petrol coupons should show signs of drying up there are other beguilements-- the river with its quiet glide through the ...

... 7 Cyrano de Bergerac (Now) PLAINLY our actors and producers can alike rise equal to the peculiar demands of Cyrano; but not, alas, our translators. The Old Vic's version of Rostand's glorious gasconade is in English, and the virtuosity of the supple, sparkling French verse has proved altogether too much for Mr. Brian Hooker. Possibly he would have done better had he never set eyes on Humbert ...

... ELIZABETH BOWELS The Clearing House Children of Vienna Get Away Old Man Here Comes a Chopper THE CLEARING HOUSE (Hodder and Stoughton; 12s. 6 d.) is a selection from the writings of John Buchan, arranged by his wife. Lady Tweedsmuir has sub-titled the book A Survey of One Man's Mind: this shows the idea behind the choice and arrange ment; and the idea has been worthily carried out. Few men ...

... ELIZABETH BOWES reviewing British Weather You Forget So Quickly The Moving Toyshop He Who Whispers NICE day! Warmer this evening! Think this 'll last? Well, the sun was shining, where I came from. Better take your mackintosh, darling, you never know. Bit parky this morning. Hear the forecast last night? There 's one thing it can't keep on much longer at this ...

... The Astonished Ostrich (Sf. James's) THERE is excellent comedy in the idea of a successful middle-aged playwright placing his worldly wisdom at the disposal of youth, only to be told that youth having looked the gift horse in the mouth infinitely prefers its own wisdom. With what relish the young Sacha Guitry would have developed such an idea, combining no doubt a minute veracity in the ...

... ELIZABETH BOWEA Montgomery Palladian The Nine Men of Soho Don't Be Afireud NOTHING could seem, on the face of it, more difficult than the writing of the life of a living man-- whoever and whatever the man may be. That it is difficult I still do not doubt: it would be a grievous mistake to think that because a thing has been done triumphantly well it must have been done, after all, easily. Alan ...

... ELIZABETH BOWES Shelley: A Life Story Birds in Colour Fallen Angel.' Legend SHELLEY: A LIFE STORY, by Edmund Blunden (Collins; 12s. 6d.), is a book intended, its author tells us, less for the long-standing Shelleyan than for the general reader. As biography, it is not the first of its kind: Mr. Blunden mentions three standard works-- Edward Dowden's, published in England in 1886; and ...

... reviewing BOOKS ELIZABETH BOWES Simenon Lost Moorings The New School Tie Be Beautiful Death and the Dear Girls THE ever- growing body of Simenon's admirers in this country will welcome this latest book of his-- or, rather, this latest Stuart Gilbert translation of a book, I imagine, written before the war. Lost is published by Routledge at 8s. 6d. Simenon is an instance of a prolific ...

... BOOKS REVIEWED by ELIZABETH BOWEN Marguerite Reilly The Hollow THE revival of Anthony Trollope was one phenomenon of the war years. True, Trollope had been coming in for some time, but it took war to establish him, once again, as a definite need of the British reader. Could his novels have been reprinted fast enough to supply the demand for them he would, I suppose, have topped the best ...