22 APRIL 1978, page 20

Boo Ks

Bicyclist of the apocalypse Ferdinand Mount The Dilemma of Democracy Lord Hailsham (Collins £4.50) :Great gusts of common sense' we are promised, to blast 'the grey smog of......

Earthliness

Alex de Jonge Tolstoy's Letters 2 Vols. edited by R. F. Christian (Athlone Press £20) Great writers sometimes make great letter writers. Those of Flaubert read like a sigh of......

Relay Runner

Benny Green A Shaft of Sunlight Philip Mason (Deutsch £6.50) If the general reader remains in ignorance of the nature and spirit of the old Indian Empire of the British, then it......