14 MARCH 1998, page 36

Weird, Wacky, Wonderful

Andrew Barrow BILTON by Andrew Martin Faber, £9.99, pp. 244 T his is a brilliantly funny and highly accomplished first novel. It is set a few years into the future and tells of......

Clerihew Corner

Vilerde!' Why does that famous mot de Cambronne Live on? Is it the pinnacle of French wit To exclaim 'She? James Michie......

A Damned Ticklish Question

Henry Hitchings MAN OR MANGO? , by Lucy Ellmann Hodder Headline, i14.99 ,pp. 238 M an or Mango? is Lucy Ellmann's third book, the successor to the acclaimed Sweet Deserts and......

The Unmasking Of Gerald

Anita Brookner THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER'S BOY by Barbara Vine Viking, £16.99, pp. 352 L ike Simenon, Ruth Rendell divides her writings into two distinct genres: the straight, or more......