Mister Corbett's Ghost and other stories Leon Garfield (Longmans Young
Books 18s). Readers with an appetite for period adventure will already be familiar with the excellent Mr Garfield. A generous imagination, a brisk, inventive pen, together with his customary zest for low life in Hogarth's and Fielding's England distinguish this trio of stories: a melancholy tale of murder and phosphorescent ghosts on Hampstead Heath; a bright, un- flawed vignette of war at sea; and a tangy romance of felony and worse, aboard a con- vict ship bound for Virginia.
The Edge of the Cloud K. M. Peyton (OUP 17s 6d) Farmans lumbering heavily across the sky, 1316riots and Deperdussins: looming hedges to be cleared and loops to be looped: the dangerous smell of fresh dope and castor oil: Mrs Peyton's evocation of the early days of flying is colourful, accomplished, and enormously authentic. For readers who might not share our nifty hero's concern for wing struts or throttle speeds, there is a modest and affecting love interest.
Desert Caravan Peter Hallard (Macdonald 16s). A gritty and engrossing tale about two small Arab children, an exceedingly person- able baby camel called Amr'r and a secretive old merchant by the name of Omar Al Hassim. Finding themselves abandoned after a raid on their caravan, our four intrepid heroes face and accomplish a fearsome trek to Timbuktu and safety—thanks in no small part to F. dada's skill with the mint-tea pot.
The Pavilion Elfrida Vipont (our. 17s 6d). Boggarts and Dreams Elfrida Vipont (Hamish Hamilton 16s). Elfrida Vipont has an elegant if unspectacular turn Of phrase, and seemingly endless time for large, easy-going middle-class families; their rambling country houses, their dogs, quirks and changing fortunes. The Pavilion once again takes up with the Haverard family, while Boggarts and Dreams (a reissue of Changes at Dowbiggins) returns us to the Conyers.
The Pigman Paul Zindel and The Game Richard E. Drdek (Bodley Head 16s each). Despite a pair of decidedly hideous glossy covers and a general air of third-rate thriller- dem, these two novels in fact represent an attempt by the publishers to reclaim some of the dead ground between early -adolescent and fully fledged adult literature. Both books deal with relationships between the young and the old—sensitively, uncompromisingly, but here and there flawed by a deep vein of sentimen- tality that betrays the authors' intentions. Echoes of Sanger and Steinbeck respectively, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankenweiler E. L. Konigsburg (Macmillan 21s). A distinguished, exceedingly appealing book—and incidentally last year's Newbery Award winner. Two small, chillingly self- confident children set off on a slyly conceived scheme to run away from home. They decide to hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.. Displaying remark- able insouciance they choose for their boudoir the English furniture room, for their bed a vastly daunting affair—'scene of the alleged murder of Amy Robsart, first wife of Lord
Robert Dudley'—and take regular baths at the fountain in the museum restaurant. Com- plications of a rather testing academic nature arise, but our heroes scheme on, passionately and ingeniously, to a happy denouement.
The Blind Cross Michael Mott (Andre Deutsch 21s). Feats of broil and battle under southern suns—Mr Mott's contribution to Deutsch's `Time, Place and Action' series transports youthful adventurers from England in 1211 to France, North Africa and Jerusalem. A com- plex plot will be no barrier to small boys with a zest for crusading and a powerful interest in camels, slavery and other matters of his- torical importance.
Heartsease Peter Dickinson (Gollancz 18s). This rough tale makes a splendid follow-up to Mr Dickinson's earlier success, The Weather- monger. As before, England has been subject to curious 'changes' which have put the clock back some 200 years and reversed all the consequences of the industrial revolution: machines are regarded as works of the devil, intruding foreigners taken for witches and in- stantly stoned to death. A tenderly resurrected tugboat, two children, a perfectly ,dreirable pony and a genial half-wit share the :imetight: Mr Dickinson again gets all the applause.
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