Fiona Maddocks
Letters from a Life: Selected Letters and Diaries of Benjamin Britten edited by Donald Mitchell and Philip Reed (Faber, two volumes, £75) was a mighty achieve- ment, but hardly a rollicking good read. Obligatory books aside, the best were paperbacks. The Dust Roads of Monferrato by Rosetta Loy (Flamingo, £4.99, trans- lated by William Weaver) defies adequate description. Beyond stating that it tells of three generations of a farming family in northern Italy, one can only say read it, slowly, and regret it when it ends.
In contrast, Lies of Silence by Brian Moore (Arrow, £3.99) relates a few terrify- ing days in the life of one man, thrown into turmoil when the IRA arrives. So com- pelling is it that it must be read in a single sitting, even if that means sitting up through the night to do so. Any book that comes between oneself and one's slumber is surely remarkable.
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