14 MARCH 1981, page 19

Books

The gifts of weakness Philip Magnus Harold Nicolson: Volume I, 1886-1929 James Lees-Milne (Chatto and Windus, pp. 448, E15) Harold Nicolson was born in 1886 into a patrician......

Gothic Pose

A.N. Wilson Bellefleur Joyce Carol Oates (Cape, pp. 558 £7.50) Cult figures cry out to be derided, particul arly when they are fervent sprinklers of the incense at their own......

Rocky Eden

James Hughes-Onslow Tracks Robyn Davidson (Cape, pp. 256, £5.95) When Thomas Cook presented Robyn Davidson with £1,500 in travellers' cheques last month, their first travel book......