On Wheels by Michael Holroyd: review You only have to read Michael Holroyd's biographies to sense how excited he gets when dealing with motor cars, whether Shaw's Rolls-Royce or Augustus John's lustful forays on wheels. As he notes in this book, drawing on French structuralist Roland Barthes, the automobile, like the cathedral, symbolises its age and is popularly invested with magical properties. Holroyd's relationship with cars began in the garage at his family home, which provided an enchanted refuge against childhood unhappiness. He became the motoring officer of his national service unit before he could even drive. He later had his own cars, but the more unobtrusive the better, graduating from a yellow DAF to a succession of automatic Hondas. While in Dublin researching Shaw, Holroyd grew tired of having his DAF, with its British number-plates, attacked on international rugby match days. After re-registering the car in Ireland, he was then harassed by the police while driving back through Wales. He realised what it was like to be Irish in Britain. Some stories are familiar, such as his account (found in A Book of Secrets) of his hair-raising drive from Naples airport to Ravello, with an impetuous woman at the wheel. In this version he throttles back slightly, cutting her dotty observation that cars with gears are easier to manoeuvre because they are smaller. Over the years Holroyd, the once invisible biographer, has gradually edged himself into the literary frame - a process started more than a decade ago with his detailed investigations into his family. So this short book is as much about a witty, technophobic flâneur as about cars. Holroyd has no idea what technical phrases such as DRS (Drag-Reduction System) mean, but regards them with awe. Such moments of "glorious incomprehension" give him "pangs of what might almost be called religious elation." His elegant musings provide an ideal festive pick-me-up, compact enough to fit in a stocking, and packing enough pep to burn any rival off the road. On Wheels: Five Easy Pieces Michael Holroyd Chatto & Windus, £9.99, 104pp