SINCE ROSE MACAULAY'S death in 1958 there have been two volumes of her letters and no fewer than three biographies, of which Sarah LeFanu's is the most recent. This might seem a bit much for such a minor figure, but LeFanu makes a good case for a re-evaluation of Macaulay as a writer as well as presenting us with some important new material.

Rose Macaulay has always been difficult to categorise, mainly because the quality of her work is so uneven and its character so varied. She produced over the years novels, essays, criticism, travel books, journalism and poetry, the best of which, like The World My Wilderness and The Towers of Eebizond,