5 DECEMBER 1987, Page 36

Eric Christiansen

If there were more recent English fiction like Nigel Balchin's The Small Back Room (Collins, £10.95) it would be no loss. This book reminded me that it is possible to write well about people solving a technical problem without overtly appealing to the pity, terror, disgust, scorn, prurience etc of the reader. There must be somebody who still writes like that, if not in English.

The most memorable history book was Mr Lane Fox's Pagans and Christians (Viking, £17.95). It is extraordinary that no one has written it before, but fortunate that this essay in 'double vision' comes from such a readable author.