2 OCTOBER 1999, page 50

All Is Vanity And Vanity Fair Is All

Victoria Glendinning THACKERAY by D. J. Taylor Chatto, £25, pp. 494 D ickens and Trotlope are, as it were, alive and well, sustained by circles and soci- eties of devoted......

A Noble Prospector

Hugh Massingberd THE HIGH ROAD TO ENGLAND by Ian Fraser Michael Russell, £24, pp. 382 S ir Ian Fraser, the author of this astrin- gent and far from amiable autobiography, has......