27 MAY 2000, page 39

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.......

They Came, They Saw, They Left

Peter Vansittart THE VISITORS: CULTURE SHOCK IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN by Rupert Christiansen Chatto, £20, pp. 272 T he Victorians welcomed and appre- ciated the alien with......