Books: Nibbling Abbey

TIDES of MONT ST.-MICHEL—Roger Vercel—Random House ($2.50).

Much has been written about Mont-Saint-Michel, the famous medieval abbey which covers a steep granite islet off the coast of France, and in summer is in turn covered with tourists. In Henry Adams' Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres it has inspired a literary masterpiece. But although the Abbey has long been a writers' and tourists' favorite, no one had thought to write about its guides. That oblique distinction has now been attained by Tides of Mont St.-Michel, whose author won the Goncourt Prize in 1934.

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