14 MAY 1942, Page 20

more attention than Shorter Notice KA O'BtuEN .

Night Shift. By Inez Holden. (John Lane. The Bells Go Down, Diary of an A.F.S. Man. (Methuen. 5s.) THESE two documentaries of life in war-time both have the assu interest of good reportage. The conversations at the machines wh Miss Holden reproduces would explain much about the wor classes to th: intellectual Left as do also the unvarnished stories th the A.F.S. diarist has to tell. His book is the more unusual everything he has to say is of the keenest interest, whether it is a the technique of fire-fighting (or kitten-rescuing, which is all in day's work for a Fire Brigade), or whether it is describing the of people these firemen are, East of Aldgate : their standards their reactions to life in general as well as to the scenes of ho and danger which made them heroes. It is a pity there is no long a Poetry Bookshop to make a Broadsheet out of the Busman's pate noster : perhaps the author, who is an artist in ordinary life, 1111 do one himself.