Best of the Paperbacks

Factual:

Renoir My Father, By Jean

Renoir. The author is the second son of the famous Impressionist, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Unlike some other artists of his time, Renoir— although he had long years of strug gle—did not have to die to be dis covered. His biographer, born in 1894, knew his father as a success ful and reasonably affluent man.

He was “sober in his habits, he went to bed early, he was happy with his wife and his children and his friends”.

He died in 1919 at the age of 78, his reputation firmly established. The biography is illustrated with family portraits and reproductions of Renoir’s work. (Fontana; $1.30).

Cockleshell Heroes, By

C. E. Lucas Phillips. An account of the raid on German shipping in Bordeaux harbour in 1942, carried out by a party of Royal Marines using two-man canoes. Of the 12 who set out only two survived but six enemy warships were blown up. This story has already sold 250,000 copies in the paperback edition. (Pan; 60c).

The Many Facets Of Love,

by Barbara Cartland. With sex such a big thing these days it is interest ing, if surprising, to find that it was discovered a long time ago. This ac count of sexual customs through the ages kicks off with Eve and pro gresses through ancient Greece, Rome, the Renaissance, Victorian prudishness to our own century. (Pan; 60c).

Towards Socialism, Ten

experts contribute essays to this volume—all of them being either editors of political publications or university professors. Each in hjs own way tries to equate socialistic theory and practice to the affluent society of today. (Fontana; $1.60).

Everywoman’S Book Of

Health And Medical Care

in which Maxine Davis, an authority on the subject, describes the health hazards of being female. (Fontana; 60c).

The Agony And The

ECSTASY, a biographical novel of Michaelangelo by Irving Stone, was first issued in Fontana Books in 1963—after becoming a world bestseller in the bound version. This is its fifth impression as a Fontana,

brought out to coincide with the MGM film version starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison, (Fontana; 51.15).

I. Michaelangelo, Sculp

TOR. This is, more or less, an autobiography through actual let ters, translated and edited by Irving Stone and his wife, Jean. (Fontana; 90c).

Italian Women Confess.

Any subject is good enough for a book these days and this one proves it. It is a selection from 8,000 let ters written to Italian magazines by lovelorn females. (Pan; 80c).

My Early Life And Great

CONTEMPORARIES, by Winston S. Churchill. The first of these has appeared in paperback form since 1959. The second appears now for the first time. It was originally pub lished in 1937 but covers such con temporaries as Trotsky, George V, Hitler, Lawrence of Arabia and Roosevelt. (Fontana; each 90c).

Fiction:

Whiteoak Harvest And

Variable Winds At Jalna,

by the late Mazo de la Roche. At the time this writer died in 1961 about 12 million copies of her books had been sold. Probably a few mil lion more have been sold since, to the benefit of her heirs. The first of the two current paperbacks was written in the 1930’5; the second was one of her last novels of the post-war Whiteoaks period. Consider ing that the first of the Jalna books was published in 1927 they have dated very little and the style has varied even less. For this reason alone, the Jalna series must be regarded as a publishing phenomenon. (Pan; 60c each).

Going Tp The River, By

Constantine Fitz Gibbon. The story of two women, their loves and Europe as it was between 1914 and 1940. (Pan; 80c).

THE MEN, by Angelika Schrobs dorff. Translated from the German, it says on the cover blurb that promiscuity was an itch and it demanded to be scratched. It was Eveline, from the age of 16, who itched and she had no lack of men willing to do the scratching. (Fon tana; 80c).

Toads For Supper, By Chuk

wuemeka Ike, a new African writer.

He takes the somewhat farcical situation of a Nigerian undergraduate who becomes engaged to three girls at once and is sent down from the University but endows it with some thing of his own. African writing, like African politics, is different and something of an acquired taste. (Fontana; 60c),

Sara Dane And The Tilsit

INHERITANCE, by Catherine Gaskin. The author is Australian and the first of these two novels— her first bestseller, first published in 1955—is about Australia and its beginnings as a convict settlement.

The other novel, first published in 1963, indicates something of the author’s travels since. The story begins and ends in the Dutch West Indies with a large part in the

middle having a background of Dorset. (Fontana; 80c each).

The Herb Of Grace, By

Elizabeth Goudge, another whose writing has gone on for a very long time and who has managed to retain a public without wholesale conversion to the form of the modern novel.

Usually she writes about Cornwall, Devon and the south of England.

This story, written just after the war, shifts slightly north-east, into Hamp shire. (Hodder; 80c), Thrillers And Crime:

Sergeant Cluff Stands

FIRM, by Gil North. This dour sleuth with the thick county accent has become better known to thriller addicts since the TV series of the same name has been shown around the English-speaking world. (Hodder; 40c).

DEADLINE, by Patrick Macnee is also based on a TV series—the sophisticated “Avengers” in which the author plays the star role of John Steed. (Hodder; 60c).

The Case Of The Daring

DECOY, by Erie Stanley Gardner is the usual formula writing. (Pan; 60c).

To Bed At Noon, By Val

Gielgud. Murder with sex at a guest house in Sicily amongst a group of with-it British Bohemians. (Fon tana; 60c).

Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns,

by Edgar Wallace. One of the 40 thrillers left by the author when he died over 30 years ago—and still going strong. (Hodder; 40c).

The Saint To The Rescue

And The Saint In Europe, By

Leslie Charteris. (Hodder and Pan respectively; each 60c).

Stories For Late At Night,

NO. 2, collected by Alfred Hitch cock. These “chillers” are said to be designed for readers with strong nerves and plenty of curiosity. (Pan; 60c).

The Giant Stumbles, By

John Lymington who asks that, if the world must end some day, why not tomorrow? The old theme of nuclear fission gone mad and destroy ing the balance of nature. For those of weak fibre, let us assure them that the hero averts the catastrophe in the end in a modern version of the Ark. (Hodder; 40c).