Wit and Fizz: Selected Works of Ruth Holland

BMJ Books, £12.95, pp 128

ISBN 0 7279 12801

“He literally brought the house down,” says Paul Crossley on Radio 3. “Yes,” says Michael Berkeley. “It was very exciting the way he set the hall alight.”

Maybe the sporting challenge of competitive piano playing exempts commentators from listening to what they're saying. Essayistsm can't afford that indulgence. Ruth Holland listens to every word that she uses and, as a result, she doesn't write at us but talks to us. Here's how she started a …