Stan Gebler Davies
Ulick O'Connor did not, so far as I know, publish anything this year and so I cannot nominate any production of his, as auto- matically as I usually can, as the most overrated piece of Irish trash to appear. Mary Lou Kohfeldt, an American academic, with her leaden biography of Lady Gregory provided me with the satis- faction of kicking a big, fat, stupid book across the room after I had done reading it. This is one of the few perks available to reviewers.
The best new book I read was Time After Time, by Molly Keane, which is now available in paperback. Perhaps it is prop- erly one of last year's books but it is a drawback of the trade that reviewers can- not read for pleasure when a book is first out, unless commissioned to notice it. What a splendid, acid novelist she is. Who could have hoped for a female Evelyn. Waugh?
She has also contributed a sensible fore- word to the beautifully-produced facsimile editions of the three Irish R.M. novels published by the Surtees Society. These are Some Experiences, Further Experiences and In Mr Knox's Country. They contain Edith Somerville's wonderfully vivid line drawings and are terrifically cheap, at £7.95 each or £21 the set. They are to be had by mail (post included) from the Hon Mrs Robert Pomeroy, Rockfield House,• Nunney, Nr. Frome, Somerset, cheques to be made out to the R.S. Surtees Society. The set would make a handsome present for any person who has not sampled the prose of Somerville and Ross at first hand or any person who likes the feel and look of a well-crafted book.
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