THE HORSY SET

Another precocious preamble to the loss of innocence traces some weeks in the 17 to 18-year old life of Brenda, from the time when her mother breaks up with her stepfather to the hopes of marrying Guy, who runs a local Westchester stable and is quite a stud with the ladies. Still it is Guy who teaches Brenda not only to ride (she has won in the Garden and is scheduled for the Olympic team trials) but a chin-up code of sportsmanship which helps her through a first experience with Larry, a well-heeled young heel from Harvard, after her submission to him leaves her all the more alone and confused. Brenda takes more than this one tumble; there's the rude revelation of her illegitimacy -and a humiliating, hard-to believe scene with Larry before her new defender, Richard, really teaches her something about sex and about love.... Out of the mouths of babes-some starting intimacies and for them- who's to say- the discipline of silence or soap? Still, Brenda, in her own words, is often appealing.