GIRLS' RULES

Girls' Rules reduces quite frankly to girl talk, but Beverley Gasner (Nina Upstairs--1965--a stronger novel) handles it with such offhand case, that it's a pleasure to listen to. This is the alternating, just occasionally impinging, story of Celia Dobbs and Marina Lewis, wallflower and passion flower respectively if judged by externals. Celia, a mousy girl, overlooked and underestimated, finally blossoms into an accomplished wife and ""takes to motherhood as to the ministry"" with devotion. While Marina, spectacular to look at but something of a trompe l'oeil--she's really quite insecure--drifts down to a Caribbean colony where she has an ultimate disastrous affair with a native; however, when last seen she is settling down nicely in matronly complacence . . . . You might hypothecate an audience somewhere between Mary McCarthy and upgraded Rona Jaffe--it's a gauzy entertainment which engages the reader engagingly.