1 JANUARY 2000, page 30

For Better Or For Worse

M. R. D. Foot TWENTIETH CENTURY: A HISTORY OF THE WORLD, 1901 TO THE PRESENT by J. M. Roberts Allen Lane, £20, pp. 906 T he literate inhabitants of today's world have much more......

Letters In The Attic

Frances Partridge FIRST FRIENDS by Ronald Blythe Viking, £25, pp. 156 R onald Blythe aroused a good deal of interest and approval by his first success, Akenfield, a careful......

Prize-winning Novels From France

Anita Brookner his year in France there was an almost palpable falling off of interest in the novel, typified by the mismanaged early announcement, six days before the official......