A COMPANY OF SWANS

A slight, romantic little nosegay, by the English author of the livelier Magic' Flutes (! 984). This concerns a young thing from Cambridge who dances her way into all hearts--and one in particular--in a fabulous city on the Amazon. Young Harriet, offspring of a sweet (now deceased) mother and a horrid father, Professor of Classics at Cambridge, was raised by a mean and gloomy aunt, and in 1919 seems doomed not only to a life of drab and stiff-necked teas but, possibly, marriage to a stolid zoologist, Edward. Unaccountably, Harriet has been allowed ballet lessons, and it is impresario Dubrov who offers her a place in his corps de ballet, which will travel with the Dubrov company to the ""Kubla Khan"" city of ""Manaus,"" 1,000 miles up the Amazon. Father says no, of course; but before Harriet goes off to find her destiny, she'll meet a sad little boy named Henry, supposedly heir to the estate of ""Stavely."" Henry's parents just don't seem to care about him, and he dreams of the return to Stavely of the uncle he's never seen--a man reported to be somewhere in the Amazon. Does Harriet find him in Manaus? Yes. Immediately. But before there's happiness all around, there'll be ballet performances starring a volcanic but kind-hearted prima; the arrivals of Edward with butterfly net and killing bottle, and Henry and Henry's mother (on the prowl); a recital of family history by the Mystery Uncle; and a stag entertainment when a terrified Harriet--in a petticoat--pops out of a cake to wow the gentlemen. Light entertainment, Cinderella-style, and a gentle humor that makes the sentimentality and cutesiness a little more palatable.