BOOKS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24543, 27 March 1943, Page 4

BOOKS OF THE DAY

RATIONED REVIEWS The name of Freya Stark vril! he listed with those of Lawrence and Gertrude Bell in the modern history of Arabia. She has been something of an ambassador in Southern Arabia, and is one of the selected few to win the trust and confidence of the Arab race. Her "Letters from Syria,V just published"by John Murray with typical elegance and care, is not, in a sense. _a new, book. The collection goes back 15 years, and we can catch that "first fine, careless rapture" of Freva Stark's love for the East. This was before her adventurous journeys to Persia and Arabia Felix, but we recognise the same sensitive personality, the same vitality humour and distinction of style. Ths letters deserved the permanenee they have been given Diplomats in Washington A close observer with a sprightly style of writing and a keen sense of humour is Mrs. Helen Lombard. "American by birch and ancestry and an opponent of Vichy," she is the wiM of a former official at the French Embassy in Washington. Her "Washington Waltz" (Hale) presents the diplomatic scene during the last ten years* Mrs. Lombard is at her best describing the leading figures at the German Embassy and their technique in getting on the right side of political Americans. Her picture of the iiisJ and flurry caused by the garden partv given on the occasion of the visit of the King and Queen to Washington in 1939 is most entertaining. With the Gommandds Mr. Gordon Holman, author of "Commando Attack" (Hodde:r and Stoughton). was the first war correspondent to sail-with the Commandos. He went with them through the hen of St. Nazaire. His book records the formation and expansion of this spear* head of Britain's new army and th§ wonderful spirit of those who^m B®' 8 ®' preparations to carry the fight to tM enemy even in the dark days when tM Nazi war machine looked like sweep* ing all before it. This is a grand storjj bracing to the mind. Pilot's Wife In 'Pilot's Wife's Tale" Estbel Terry Wright gives some of her pf' sonnl experiences as the young wife o a Royal Air Force pilot in this I She follows him across country from aerodrome to aerodrome, sharing soma of his adventures and fortune, bo good and bad. There is a graph l ' description of hospital life_ and 0 weary weeks of restoration after ser^ r ? burns when her husband was ®:? a down during the first nights of tn Battle of Britain. This unusual atitiK biography is published by John Lan3< Amusing Entertainment Regarded either as fact or the book has something of each-"* "Hotel Splendide." by Ludwig Befiei mans, is an amusing entertammen • It presents a series of pictures life behind the scenes in one of tnos big luxury hotels in any great capitaThe point of view is the waiter's, a" the narrator of the delightful sketch begins his career as a "bus boy. * fun is light, graceful and never "r roarious, and the observation a"" 1 guests and staff has the air «f 1 (Hamish Hamilton.) Christian Order The Bishop of Gloucester has a dressed his Diocesan Conference on task of the Christian Church Murray publishes his able address " n .j that title Christianity has its implications. Its ethics, and unacknowledged, are part 0 schemes for true human P Bishop Hoadlnni's pamphlet is a 5 of the tusk with emphasis on crluca l