Richard Lamb
The finest book on the second world war which I have read for years is Christopher Seton-Watson's Dunkirk — Bologna Alamein (Buckland, £14.95) — much praised in The Spectator by M. R. D. Foot. Beautifully written in the calm lucid prose of an Oxford don, it brings out the drama
and traumas of the campaigns better than more strident works.
I found Peter de la Billiere's Looking for Trouble (Harper/Collins, £19.99) the most overrated. It is too long and boring while I disliked the way in which the author glori- fies fighting and physical prowess. It should not be allowed to fall into the hands of school boys.
David Gilmour's Curzon (John Murray, £25) is a splendid biography, far surpassing the official Life. Gilmour brings to life Cur- zon's strange character and his fascinating political career. At Lausanne in 1922 it must have been hilarious when Mussolini and Curzon met. With respect to Curzon's daughter, Alexandra Metcalfe, the two had more in common than their physical resem- blance.
The novel I enjoyed most was A. N. Wilson's The Vicar of Sorrows (Sinclair- Stevenson, £14.99). I am a fan of that forgotten best seller Mrs Humphrey Ward, and I like her influence on Wilson. My heart bled for Wilson's clergyman as it had done for Ward's Robert Ellesmere; both needed so badly to believe, but neither could.
Previous page
