23 SEPTEMBER 1960, page 37

Compassionate, Distinguished, Moving

By COLIN M AcINNES R ,, , , ,,„ IN i books—particularly novels—is an , , ungrateful task, because it demands quite , "Ri work (reading the things, perhaps even T \ h Ore than......

An Impossible Marriage ?

Married to Tolstoy. By Cynthia Asquith. (Hutchinson, 30s.) THE bother with the story of the Tolstoys' mar- riage is that everything is on such an uncomfort- able scale. Tolstoy,......