Books: This England

MRS. MINIVER—Jan Struther—Harcourt, Brace ($2).

"Mrs. Miniver herself, when buying fireworks, was apt to be led away by fantastic titles; she would order Humming Spiders, Witches' Cauldrons, Mines with Serpents. . . . Clem . . . laid out a certain amount on Roman Candles, Catherine-wheels, and Tourbillions, but for the most part he rightly concentrated on rockets. There was one bursting now, a delicate constellation of many-colored stars which drifted down and lingered in the still air."

Then "the final rocket went up, a really large one, a piece of reckless extravagance. ... It soared twice as high...