13 JUNE 1981, page 22

Propaganda

Paul Ableman Heavy Sand Anatoli Rybakov, (Allen Lane pp. 389, £7.95) Heavy Sand is a contemporary Russian novel written not by a dissident but by an established Soviet author......

Benighted

Aparna Jack Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie (Cape pp .446, £6.95) Saleem Sinai is born at midnight, at the moment India becomes independent. The novel is an attempt to pickle......

Recent Paperbacks

James Hughes-Onslow Innocent Blood P.D. James (Sphere pp. 313, £1.50). An adopted child seeks her real parents, hoping to find them in circumstances that will confirm fantasies......