English patience
From John Bierman Sir: It's perhaps asking too much of human nature to expect Saul Kelly, the author of The Hunt for Zerzura, to write a fair and
balanced review of The Secret Life of Laszlo Almasy (Books, 29 May). Nor did he.
The overall quality of his diatribe may be judged by his opening sneer at the subtitle of my book — The Real English Patient. How curious that his own book should carry the strapline 'The true story behind The English Patient'.
I won't try your readers' patience or intrude on your space by answering his mean-spirited article point for point. Suffice to quote the Durrants' observation that when H.G. Wells (no comparison intended, of course) published his Outline of History, 'the historians were aghast; now they would have to learn to write'.
John Bierman
Paphos, Cyprus
Previous page
