27 APRIL 1996, Page 26

Sight unseen

Sir: As the screenwriter of the film Restora- tion, I was dismayed to read the aside in Caroline Moore's review of Rose Tremain's Collected Short Stories that 'the screen ver- sion [of Restoration] sounds like a pre- dictable travesty' (Books, 13 April).

`Sounds like', I assume, is shorthand for `I haven't actually seen the film but why should that stop me passing comment?'

Sounds like Rose Tremain's new collec- tion is rather good.

Rupert Walters

5 Kensington Park Gardens, London W11