Books: Road to Mandalay

THE LACQUER LADY—F. Tennyson Jesse—Macmillan ($2.50).

'Er petticoat was yaller an' 'er little cap

was green, . .

'An 'er name was Supi-yaw-lat—jes' the

same as Theebaw's Queen. . . .

—Kipling.

Here is the true story of Supaya-lat (as Author Jesse spells her) and how she came to be Thibaw's queen; how the riotous, sometimes murderous goings-on in the Golden Palace of Mandalay finally brought the British to Upper Burma, to extinguish in one night the picture-book existence of the Lord of All Power and Glory, the Centre of the Universe.

Fanny, the pretty little...