A GOLDEN GIRL

By the author of Dayspring, Dearly Beloved, Moon Gaffney, this has little in common with the earlier books save for the aggressive attack against Catholicism through one of the characters who is emotionally one of its victims. The scene is Lima, Peru, where four men are variously attracted to Terry Morley, who vanders down there alone. They are Convey, the Catholic, who sees in Terry the possibility of a love which is both pure and physical; Fermin Ortiz, a torero, who is destroyed by Terry's inaccessibility; Shaw, a secretary at the Embassy and a charmer, who labels her a tramp; and Murdock, who tells the story, and maintains his emotional equilibrium in spite of his affair with her, recognizes that she's incapable of love if very capable of passion. And by the close, the situation blows up in violence as Conway and Ortiz are indirectly driven to their death, while Shaw and Murdook regretfully -- abandon Terry to an older man... Some interesting writing which has sharpness and tension, this will have a certain curious fascination for a more sophisticated audience.