DANCING AT THE VICTORY CAFE

A British first novel, an overripe plum of nostalgia and romance set in WW II England, that's something of a novelty item, containing as it does several wartime recipes that are fun to peruse, a bit tricky to carry out. Belle Morton, childless and disillusioned with marriage, decides to buy a lace-glove tea-restaurant and transform it into the ``Victory Cafe,'' where good food may be had even in wartime. It's a wizard success (British slang of the period abounds) and counts among its employees: mean Connie, who does the Victory out of deserved honors; young Wyn; and Wyn's best friend, Dorrie, she of the lovely singing voice and the awful parents of severe religious convictions. Then love comes to Dorrie in the person of a black American serviceman by the name of Lucky, one of three buddies who are welcomed to the cafÇ in spite of threats from a lethal white-supremacist sergeant. Later, the three GIs are entertained by the cafÇ's perennial upstairs tenant, Mrs. Renee Oblonsky, nicknamed ``Prin''; Dorrie launches a singing career; Lucky is killed, thanks to vicious persecution; and Dorrie discovers she's pregnant. It's Prin to the rescue—or is her solution the worst thing Prin could have done? And what of Belle with her Australian lover? Did she do what was right? At the close, in present time, there's a reunion between Belle and Dorrie, allowing the women to reconcile themselves with the past. The characters are elementary; the dialect at times lies heavy, heavy (From Lucky: ``Yer voice make me tremble when I hear it singin' in ma head''). As for the recipes: ``elderflowers'' may be a shade difficult to find, and items like ``national flour'' need research; but the names are delightful (``Shropshire Fidget Pie''?). Slight but harmless.