... by Catherine Cookson: Mac- donald. 16s, tells the story of a formidable north country mother who rules her predomi nantly male household with extreme firmness, devotes her life and all her energies to their advancement and makes a pretty spectacular job of it until her younger daughter comes home from London (to which she has apparently gone to escape her overwhelming parent) and the whole ...

... by Joseph Hayes W. H. Allen. 18s, has the ever zanier setting of the contemporary Broadway theatre as seen through the eyes of a Wisconsin innocent; a young woman whose play is accepted for staging and who leaves her husband to his own donnish devices long enough to re-write the opus two or three times, attend endless rehearsals and out-of-town try- outs and somehow, though precariously, keep ...

... by Kay Mar tin: Collins. 21s, takes the reader to Los Angeles and to the world of hospitals, nurses and, above all, surgeons in a story which is not without sentimentality but which is almost bound to appeal to those thousands who enjoy medical dramas whether on paper or on the TV screen. Miss Martin has shown a great hospital in all its complexity of organisation and to my mind this was not ...

... All that was Pleasant in Man A Life of David Garrick A Biography of Elizabeth Countess Russell About J. B. Priestley A Humorous Travel Book and a Personal Journal Novels Set in Australia and Regency England EVERYONE who enjoys the theatre-- even those who go rarely-- should be grateful to Miss Carola Oman, who has brought her great talent and distinguished mind to bear on the subject of that ...

... Paula Allardyce: Hodder. 15s, covers, m its romantic way, the two centuries between 1761 and the more or less present day. It is also remarkable for being exclusively con cerned with the recurrent difficulties of keeping the love of a husband who doesn't really wish to toe the strictly matrimonial line. Readable, I imagine, on a vast scale. ...

... Victor Price: Heinemann. 21s, is a first novel and so, reason ably, has first place in this list of fiction. The plot is, by the author's admission, based on certain happenings, but not on personalities, during that bitter war officially referred to as the Cyprus Emergency. It is also an imaginative and wholly gripping story of a man who is obliged to face both sides of an apparently ...

... Graham Hutton: Faber arid Faber. 30s. The things that belong to Mexico are very often fantastic in their brilliance and variety whether it be the flora and the fauna, the designs and colours of its peoples' textiles, its fruits, minerals or precious stones. Here between earth and high heaven, where altitude rather than latitude is the ruling factor in this tropic clime, all seasons co-exist. ...

... Roger Calvert: Allen and Unwin. 40s. Here is another practical guide book that is also a contribution to the literature of travel. The author gives detailed information concerning the navigable rivers and canals from the Urals to the Atlantic. Excellent line drawings, maps, and photographs. For the intending traveller in Europe here are another four handy volumes. ...

... by H. Dennis-Jones: Alvin Redman. 21s. A partic ular feature is the description of the 500-mile- long Adriatic Highway, nearly finished. ...

... Dieppe August 19 by Eric Maguire: Jonathan Cape. 21s. A much shorter book, this gives a clear and brief outline of the events of that day, including details of the German reactions not covered by Terence Robertson. Mr Maguire also examines the thesis that Dieppe was neces sary as a preparation for D-Day with some care. This thesis, using hindsight, appears to me to say that the methods of ...

... by Charles Council: Elek. 25s. The battle to break through the German forti fications in Italy south of Rome and the con troversial Allied decision to destroy the famous monastery at Cassino is the best-known episode to come out of the long-drawn-out, struggle b} the Allied Forces to advance up the Italian peninsula. (It is worth pointing out that the Allied Forces gained valuable experience ...

... by Nathaniel Bench lev: Hutchinson. 18s, is a very amusing book, in deed, as befits the work of a writer who is a wit in his 0 right and the son of Robert Benchley, one of humour's best gifts to the 20th century. Young Mr Bonchley has given us the tale of espionage as it barely conceivably might be in present-day New York, and a very gay, occasion ally chilling business he has made of it all. ...