I MUST HAVE LIBERTY

A book which ranks in subject and in quality with Constancia de la Mora's In Place of Splendour, if the former has not sapped that market. It is perhaps a little more emotional, a little less stylistically pleasing than the former, but this story of a rich, active and valiant life is an engrossing one. Born of good family, Isabel de Palencia was brought up in the sheltered religious and social pattern of old Spain. She soon broke away, turning to theatre and journalism, marrying a painter. After the dictatorship of Prime de Rivera she became immersed in national affairs, working for the betterment of labor conditions, representing Spain at the League, and at the outbreak of the war she became Spain's Minister to Sweden. Her record of Spain's struggle, of that of her husband and son in active service, her work behind the diplomatic scenes is a moving one. An impressive life story.