JULIE

Lacking the mystic, eerie qualities of his former Irish books, with less poetry and greater reality, this is a strange, and often appealing story of an Australian girl, Julie, aged 12, who comes to London to be cured of a cerebral condition. At 15 she goes to work for a Jew, Goldberg, a crude, vulgar, arrogant man whose intensity attracts her. Tied to him by his vitality and kindness to her, she becomes his mistress, and maintains her loyalty to him when he is caught in his arson racket and sentenced for seven years. After an interlude with a young, weak, romantic Welsh poet, she marries Goldberg when he is released, realizing that only through him can she touch life. Some skilful, provocative writing, a certain fascination for an unresolved, frequently melodramatic and unconvincing book. Pick your public.