Books: Paperbacks

Reviewed by Emma Hagestadt and Christopher Hirst

Electricity by Victoria Glendinning (Arrow, pounds 5.99). A page-turning historical novel that plots romance and passion in late Victorian England. Glendinning's story of a young girl's awakening (and her contact with the dangerous new medium of ``electricity'') shows off the author's secure grasp of 19th-century social history and her training as a biographer. Particularly strong on domestic details - how rooms were ``turned out'', lavatorial duties performed and corsets strapped - the novel celebrates the excesses of full-blown Victoriana in readable and well-judged prose. High-class Catherine Cookson.

Green by Frances Sherwood (Abacus, pounds 9.99). Being a Mormon isn't easy in 1957. Luckily for Zoe she has Margo, who teaches her how to line her eyes with kohl and wear black turtlenecks. Taking the express train to San Francisco the two girls head for the City Lights bookstore, hoping to kiss Beat poets in berets. But renouncing Joseph Smith for Allen Ginsberg has harsher consequences for Zoe than she ever bargained for.

A sad and sassy coming of age from historical novelist Frances Sherwood.

Memories by Frances Partridge (Phoenix, pounds 6.99). ``Comfort didn't rank high in Bloomsbury houses'', remembers Frances Partridge, though stewed plums and milk pudding (``a necessity to all Stracheys'') did. Spry reminiscences from the Bloomsbury group's most level-headed and, now in her 97th year, healthiest member. First published in 1981, Partridge's portrait of the menage at Ham Spray and her relationship with Ralph Partridge (Dora Carrington's husband) is unpretentious and understated. Recommended - even to those whose toes curl at the very mention of the names Quentin, Maynard and Ralph.

The Smell of Apples by Mark Behr (Abacus, pounds 5.99). Marnus and Frikkie's idea of fun is checking

out the ``stuffed fish'' and ``stuffed Bushmen'' in the

National Museum, and debating the length of a whale's John Thomas. But the arrival of ``Mr Smith'' in the family guestroom offers Marnus (peeking through his bedroom floorboards) even more distressing sights. Mark Behr's bitter coming-of-age novel set in 1970s South Africa explores the hypocrisies and parameters of Afrikaner

family life. A familiar story, but an exotic and unfamiliar world.

A Year of Our Lives by John Mackenna (Picador, pounds 5.99). Sex and death are the two constants in John Mackenna's short stories, with bad weather running a close third. In the strangest story of the collection, a mother and father make love for the first time in 10 years after being told their daughter has died in a car crash; while in his best story, ``The Things We Say'', a young girl comforts a grieving widower before he drowns himself in the sea. Other favoured themes include separation and divorce. Very Irish and very depressing.

Landscape & Memory by Simon Schama (Fontana, pounds 16.99). Schama works on an epic scale, even when producing a book of historical essays. Traditionally, this genre takes the form of a slim, judicious volume, but he gives us 650 big, profusely illustrated pages filled with evocative prose in the grand style. Loosely based on the theme of man and the natural world, the 40-odd topics range from Robin Hood to Walter Raleigh, from the history of the fountains to the discovery of the sequoia. An idiosyncratic gathering but each

subject is explored with wonder and exemplary learning. Endlessly stimulating .

This Year in Jerusalem by Mordecai Richler (Vintage, pounds 7.99). A trawl of memories about growing up Jewish in Montreal is mingled with a clear- eyed account of an extended visit to Jerusalem in 1992. The result is a revealing, highly readable exploration of the relationship between Israel and the international Jewish community. Humour is never far away. ``The good news is they found your typewriter,'' he is told. ``The bad news is they blew it up.'' A non-believer, Richler rails against the increasing

power of the ultra-orthodox and their venomous

attacks on "Diaspora Jews".

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (Vintage, pounds 5.99). A superb new translation of the greatest anti-war novel. Remarque detested the military penchant for euphemism: ``continuous fire, defensive fire, curtain fire - words, words, but they embrace all the horror of the world''. There is horror here in plenty - never worse than when the hero dresses the wounds of a man he has just bayonetted - but also striking detail. An issue of Edam cheese is good and bad. It tastes nice but means ``a hell of a battering'' is on the way.

Fisher's Face by Jan Morris (Penguin, pounds 6.99). Though he died six years before her birth, the author declares that Admiral of the Fleet "Jacky" Fisher has been ``one of my life's companions''. Fearless but free of machismo, a charming ladies' man who adored dancing - you

can understand why Ms Morris keeps his picture pinned in her wardrobe. We still feel his

influence. In order to fuel the "ironclads" with which he transformed the Royal Navy, Fisher initiated the UK oil industry. A lifetime's research has resulted in a delightful jeu d'esprit.