GRAND DAYS

A theoretically neat idea for a sweeping series—more are planned—from Australian writer Moorhouse (Forty-Seventeen, 1989, etc.): an idealistic young woman succeeds as an international diplomat at the old League of Nations, a good measure of kinky sex thrown in to relieve the more pressing issues of devising stationery holders and resolving equal tenders for new furniture. Edith Campbell Berry, fearless Australian daughter of ``Rationalist'' parents who brought her up with strong notions of public service, has come to work for world peace at the newly created League of Nations in Geneva. Her three heroes are Briand, Benes, and Lord Cecil, and, as Moorhouse describes Edith's advances through the bureaucracy, real but long-forgotten historical personages like Dame Rachel Crowdy, Head of Social Questions, or Sir Eric Drummond, the first Secretary-General of the organization, play their part as mentors and supporters. Tiresomely earnest and naive (she doesn't seem aware of what's actually happening in Europe in the 20's and 30's), Edith writes lists and lives by precepts like ``Ways of Going''—how to travel; the ``Way of all Doors''—being conversationally adept; and the ``Way of Companionable Directness''—knowing when to be frank. But the same Edith who knows about tenders and meetings also enjoys a freewheeling sex-life. ``A Weimar girl,'' she calls herself as she indulges close friend British Major Ambrose Westwood. Ambrose, also a colleague, likes to borrow Edith's clothes and introduces her to the Molly Club, a local transvestite joint. She has other sexual adventures until suddenly deciding—she's a ``Rationalist'' after all—to marry a British journalist, though she'll continue working at the League. Having to do more with the importance of being earnest than with understanding the treacherous ways of the world and the human heart.