2 AUGUST 1986, page 23

Books

Looking very carefully Colin Welch AN UNFINISHED JOURNEY by Shiva Naipaul Hamish Hamilton, £9.95 I n peace sons bury their fathers; in war fathers bury their sons. But peace too......

Not Quietly Desperate But Defiantly Humorous

Francis King AN ACADEMIC QUESTION by Barbara Pym Macmillan, £9.95 T . wo weeks ago Anita Brookner pub- lished in the Spectator what was more a general appraisal of Barbara Pym......