29 AUGUST 1987, page 28

Aspects Of The Novelist

Timothy Brittain-Catlin FAMILY QUARTET by John Catlin Hamish Hamilton, f12.95 I believe that most parents refer to their mothers as 'granny' or 'grandma': my father, John,......

Mischief That Is Past

David Profumo FROZEN MUSIC by Francis King Hutchinson, f7.95 41 promised my mother I should never use that wretched word "novella" ', wrote Dorothy Parker, and for many readers......

The Whole Duck

A duck's head under water Is deep in thought Which makes its body shorter As thinking ought Until, quick as a flash, The whole duck disappears And with a little splash Floats......