... Elizabeth Mtowen VASCO PRATOLINI is one of Italy's foremost novelists: A Tale of Poor Lovers (Hamish Hamilton; 12s. 6 d.) is the first of his books to be translated into English. The scene is a street in Florence; time, 1925-26 --between the two wars, with Fascism in the ascendant. Pre-eminently, this novel is not a study of political conditions, nor is it a diatribe against political evil. ...