On a Shoestring to Courg by Derula Murphy (John Murray £4.95)
This book is definitely by one of the "travelling people," endowed with all the gifts her country can bestow. tier pen peels aside the scaly veneer of commercial progress to reveal the patterned grain of the parent wood. It is no tourist guide but a journey for those who cannot travel among the delightful people of the Western Ghats, brought back to reality at times by a little five-year-old who really (Jones a green belted tunic and pointed hat when no one _is looking. Franc Gumley