28 JANUARY 1989, page 33

Unable To Climb Out Of The Abyss

Anita Brookner CAT'S EYE by Margaret Atwood Bloomsbury, £12.95, pp.421 I t takes something of a heroine — and Margaret Atwood is definitely a heroine to both readers and writers......

Prince Charming Turns Into A Toad

Kenneth Rose IN ROYAL SERVICE: THE LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF SIR ALAN LASCELLES, VOLUME II, 1920-1936 edited by Duff Hart-Davis Hamish Hamilton, £14.95, pp.212 Ng. A work on a......

A Summit In Slovenia

Five thousand feet up in thin air. Tongues of last year's snow sleep in the gullies under pine-litter like a horsehair blanket. More lichen than needles lasts on the trees. A......