24 AUGUST 1991, page 25

Brave Doomed World

John Jolliffe THE ITALICS ARE MINE by Nina Berberova Chatto, f20, pp. 600 T o the Russians, time often seems to mean nothing, except for time remem- bered. The memories of Nina......

Looking After A Few Poor Bastards

Sara Maitland LOVE IN THE TIME OF VICTORIA by Francoise Barret-Duerocq, translated by John Howe Verso, £19.95, pp. 225 P eople have very peculiar ideas about `the poor,'......

For Want Of A Niall

Garry O'Connor NIALL: A LAMENT by Sean O'Casey Calder, £14.99, pp. 96 ou are my bowels within' — ?Winne estigh thu' — Gaelic mothers used to say to their babies. When the second......