Shorter notices
The Penny Histories Victor E. Neuburg (out. The Juvenile Library 30s). 'A very small book/ At a very small charge/To learn them to read/ Before they grow large.' Thus the front cover of Jenny Wren, eighteenth century chapbook, crudely printed and illustrated, price one penny. A lively study plus seven facsimile 'histories.'
The Fratricides Nikos Kazantzakis (Faber 28s). Mr Kazantzakis's final novel bangs away at the same old Kazantzakis themes: love-hate for Greece, love-hate for God and love-hate for His creatures. Father Yanaros, wild priest and hero, is similarly preoccupied. A pity, this con- tinual straining to make of a good story an elaborate sacramental rite.
Popes in the Twentieth Century Carlo Falconi (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 63s). A colourful account of the century's first five Popes, written with an unimpeachably liberal bias. Catholics who hold less fashionable views will probably have to wait at least a generation for any ob- jective account of Pope John's brief but turbulent reign.
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