John Jolliffe
I strongly recommend A Stranger To Hell by Stefan Badeni (Tabb House, 7 Church Street, Padstow, Cornwall, £9.50), in Which a 59-year-old Pole's grisly experi- ences in Mauthausen concentration camp from August 1944 to May 1945 are de- scribed with great courage and restraint. Hundreds round him starved or froze to death and thousands were murdered, and the author only survived by a miracle — to find his country doomed to a domination no less crippling than the one which Britain had gone to war in 1939 to resist. 1 have seen no reviews of this short but excep- tionally eloquent and dignified book.
On a different note, it may seem super- fluous to add to the chorus of praise that greeted Penelope Fitzgerald's The Begin- ning of Spring (Collins, £10.95). Thanks to the wonderful sureness of touch with which she displays her great qualities of original- ity and humanity, I could not put it down.
Finally, for any keen gardener who is not content with being fobbed off with what- ever nurseries happen to have in stock, there is a godsend. The Plant Finder, compiled by Chris Philip, edited by Tony Lord, distributed by Moorland Publishing Co, Moor Farm Road, Airfield Estate, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 1HD, £7.95. The subtitle is '27,000 plants and where to find them' with 300 nurseries nationwide. Need one say more?
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