The other one [book] I just read is October Suite by Maxine Clair (Random House, $23.95). It's about a woman named October. She's a young black schoolteacher in the 1950s ...

... while chuckling over Lady Thatcher's reference to federast Tory MEPS and her reluctance to campaign for them last time round, in 1989.

He rose and went down to the kitchen, where he knew a fire was burning, and there the terrified servants were all assembled, all agreeing, as the blast came roaring down the chimney, they never had witnessed such a storm, and between the gusts, breathing shuddering prayers for those who were “out at sea that night.” The vicinity of Melmoth’s house to what seamen call an iron-bound coast, gave a dreadful sincerity to their prayers and their fears.

Three récamiers which are identical in form to the one on which the craftsman is working in the watercolor have been located.