20 JUNE 1987, page 27

The Shock Of The Old

Anita Brookner CAPTAIN VINEGAR'S COMMISSION by Philip Glazebrook Collins Harvill, £10.95 ■■••••••• H ere is an adventure on the grand scale, or perhaps it is merely a caper.......

When Johnny Came Sailing Home Again

Stephen Spender MANHATTAN '45 by Jan Morris Faber, £12.50 M anhattan '45 opens almost Whit- manesquely with a splendid prologue re- calling the arrival of the British liner the......