Publishers make their selections from the second half of 1965
MARJORIE VILLIERS, of Harvill Ltd.:
CHARLES MONTEITH, of Faber Ltd.: Christians in the USSR, by Nikita Struve, translated by Lancelot Sheppard, gives a well-documented and human account of the conditions of life of Orthodox Christians, clergy and laity, and of Russian Christians belonging to other denominations between 1917 and today. There are also interesting sidelights on their reactions and development.
JOHN O'MEARA, of Helicon Ltd.:
My selection is John Marshall's Catholics, Marriage and Contraception. This is a reassuring blend of the conservative and progressive by an experienced and authoritative writer who is at the centre of the discussion of a problem of immense interest and anxiety to Catholics.
CAROLINE HOBHIOUSE, of Macmillan Ltd.: It is sometimes difficult to remember that ten years ago Muriel Spark was virtually umknown. Now, seven novels later, she is widely admired and discussed throughout the Englishspeaking world. Her eighth novel, The Mandelbaum Gate, is written on many levels, the most obvious of which is a fast-paced (and very funny) spy story set on the borders of Jordan and Israel. The central core of it, however, is the dilemma in which the heroine, a Catholic of Jewish descent, finds herself, and which is symbolised by the bisection of the city of Jerusalem.
JOHN GUEST, of Longmans Ltd.:
Antonia White's The Hound and the Falcon consists of a remarkable and outspoken series of letters. They recount the doubts of a lasped Catholic and her ultimate return to the faith, and also form a telling fragment of autobiography during the wartime years of stress.
E. F. GREET, of Lutterworth Press Ltd.;
A Select Liturgical Lexicon, by Professor J. G. Davies, of Birmingham University, is being published in the Ecumenical Studies in Worship series. This is a handy reference hook containing over MOO entries. Besides simple definitions, where these are sufficient, there are also longer articles describing history and practice in the different branches of the Christian Church.
N. FOWLER WRIGHT, of Fowler Wright Ltd.:
We are publishing the best of Richard O'Sullivan's essays, edited with an introduction by B. A. Wortley, under the title of The Spirit of the Common Law. The book includes an essay on the Natural Law and COMmon Law, and another on Sr Thomas More. Douglas Wood rut' has provided a biographical chapter describing Richard O'Sullivan as "a man for all the Christian centuries".
G. V. BUTLER, of Sands Ltd.:
No matter what the errors and failures of Communism as a creed, the movement has been outstandingly successful in the way it has fired its followers to go out and "change the world". What is the cause of this success? In Dedication and Leadership Douglas Hyde provides a detailed study of the methods used by the Communists to awaken in their followers this exceptional degree of dedication, and describes too the step-by-step process by which every unsuspected potentiality for leadership is developed and effectively used.
SAMUEL CARR, of Batsford Ltd.: In vividly re-telling the stories of Caratacus, Arthur, Alfred, Hereward, Llewellin, Robin Hood. William Wallace. Robert the Bruce, Owen Glyndwyr and Montrose. Rosemary Stitch§ in Heroes and History shows that the hero has always fulfilled a basic national need. I have no hesitation at all in making my choice this time— namely, Xavier Rynne's The Third Session, The Guardian has already predicted that "one day Rynne will be regarded even in the Roman Curia as a standard work on Vatican II"; and this prediction comes closer to realisation than ever before with the publication of his third book. It is Rynne's conclusion that the bishops accomplished more at this session than at any previous one; and his account of it has all the liveliness, lucidity and authority of his two previous books on the Council.
GILLON AITKIEN, of Chapman & Hall Ltd.: Auberon Wang/i's new novel Who Are The Violets Now? is unquestionably his best so far. Arthur Friendship is editorial maid-of-all-work for Woman's Dream, but devotes the rest of his life to International Peace Studies, run from a suite in the Hilton Hotel by scented„ silverhaired Mr. Besant. Toemass Gray, the rabid Negro poet "tipped for the Nobel Prize". and nasty, bearded young Ferdie Jacques. are among the other beings the author describes with cruel but witty precision, This third novel will establish this former enfant terrible of the CATHOLIC HERALD as a writer of the first order.
MAURICE TEMPLE-SMITH,
of Eyre & Spottiswoode Ltd.;
nominate Patrick White's Four Plays. These form a very interesting counterpart to the novels for which he is well known, and one of the most interesting things about them is their theatricality. They are written by a man interested in the theatre who is experimenting with dramatic technique. not just adapting a narrative for the stage. They have been performed in Australia amid considerable controversy — hut not yet here.
ALAN ROSS of Alan Ross Ltd.:
My choice is Mernorie,v of the Forties, by J. Maclaren-Ross. It is the only book yet to give the authentic flavour of wartime Soho, with its resident writers and painters, and its poets on leave, and other habi or '1;s of one kind or another.
DONALD MORRISON, of W. H. Allen Ltd.:
Our choice is My Life with Christ by Anthony I. Paone. These spiritual meditations for the modern reader are a daily guide for C.atholics in search of a way to Christian perfection.
RALEIGH TREVELYAN, of Michael Joseph Ltd.: The World of Cricket, edited by E. W. Swanton and others, with its 600,000 words and over 100 pages of illustrations, will without doubt be the most ambitious and extensive work ever produced on cricket. The contents include a general history of the growth of the game in England, separate histories of the other cricket-playing countries and of the counties, universities, schools and clubs, There are over 300 biographies, a bibliography, statistics, and some essays by Alec Waugh and others.
MICHAEL GEARE, of Dent lad.:
The Life of Dylan Thomas must rank high in the biographies of the '60s. The trustees of the Dylan Thomas Estate have chosen in Constantine FitzGibbort as a biographer, a friend and contemporary of the poet who is a distinguished and successful author in his own right. The book is a searing document indeed, yet it is also an exultant hook, for even in the darkest days Dylan could dispel gloom with a shaft of gaiety: nor did his vision or humanity. or the soaring genius of his poetry, ever leave him.
JOHN M. GITTENS, of Robert Hale Ltd.: I would like to offer as our choice Dialogues: Reflections on God and Man, by Pope Paul VI, translated and arranged by John G. Clancy. This is a significant volume culled from the writings, addresses and letters of a widely respected world leader.
WILLIAM HOLDEN, of Heinemann Ltd.:
Zue Oldenbourg's biography. Catherine the Great, is one of the most fascinating non-fiction titles in our current list. Mme. Oldenbourg has been called one of the world's hest historical novelists and this is her first biography. She has succeeded in using her brilliant talent to bring Catherine to life as none of her other biographers has succeeded in doing. She has concentrated on the early life of the Empress and. in consequence, has illuminated the events that shaped her character and, of course, the destiny of 18th century Russia.
JOHN TODD, of Longman and Todd Ltd.: The celibacy or marriage of priests has been much discussed in private, but not till now in public. The Church has always emphasised that priestly celibacy is a matter of discipline, not doctrine—obviously so since some Catholic priests. for instance in the Rumanian rite, are married. Pierre Hermand in The Priest: Celibate or Married, discusses the whole subject with the frankness, knowledge and technical competence which it requires. He suggests that marriage should become an option for all priests.