27 MAY 2000, page 38

The Heights And Depths Of Maida Vale

Harriet Waugh GRASSHOPPER by Barbara Vine Viking, £16.99, pp. 406 I n recent years the novels that Ruth Ren- dell writes under this pseudonym have far out-stripped her other......

Talking About C. K. Stead

John de Falbe TALKING ABOUT O'DWYER by C. K. Stead Harvill, £14.99, pp. 245 A ll habitual readers know the plea - sures of bingeing on an author previously unknown to them.......

Credible Because Possible

Jane Gardam THE QUEST FOR THE TRUE CROSS by Peter Thiede and Matthew d'Ancona Weidenfeld, £18.99, pp. 320 n T he publication last month of the great Jewish scholar Vermes'......