2 SEPTEMBER 2000, page 36

A Bicycle Not Made For Two

Olivia Glazebrook A CELIBATE SEASON by Carol Shields and Blanche Howard Fourth Estate, £6.99, pp. 231 A happily married couple are forced to live 1,000 miles apart for one year......

A Hellish Dark Continent

D. J. Taylor THE BOOK OF THE HEATHEN by Robert Edric Anchor, f9.99, pp. 351 W ith a dozen novels already under his comparatively youthful belt, including two as 'G. E. Armitage'......

Chess Can Seriously Damage Your Health

Nigel Short THE LUZHIN DEFENSE by Vladimir Nabokov Penguin, £6.99, pp. 272 A Russian novel about a mad chess- player? It does not sound very promising. One can sympathise with......