30 MAY 1981, page 26

Desert Song

Paul Ableman Hello America J.G. Ballard (Jonathan Cape pp. 220, £6.50) P. G. Wodehouse maintained, with unnerving modesty, that he was 'in the business of writing musical comedy......

Mama Roma

Vivien Ashton Pope Joan Lawrence Durrell, translated and adapted from the Greek of Emmanuel Royidis (Peter Owen pp. 163, £6.95). While myths are superficially a form of......

Axis Echoes

James Lasdun A Bonfire Pamela Hansford Johnson (Mac.. millan pp. 191, £5.95) Walking Naked Nina Bawden (Macmillan pp. 220, £5.95) Goebbels and Gladys Keith Colquhoun (John......