By BETH TAYLOR; Special to the Journal THE SEA LADY, By Margaret Drabble. Harcourt. 345 pages. $24. * * * For more than 30 years, Margaret Drabble has been an acerbic, insightful observer of British characters as they negotiate the philosophical sea-changes spawned by the late 1960s and '70s.

The Institute of Physics has appointed Beth Taylor to oversee media relations and public affairs. Taylor will join in April as director of comms, responsible for positioning the institute as the leading authority on physics. She will lobby ministers on issues such as the teaching of physics.