Russian Adventure

THE DANCE GOES ON--Louis Golding --Farrar & Rinehart ($2.50).

Twenty years ago Louis Golding was an orchidaceous Oxonian. After "going down" from the University he began to write novels that were so showily finespun, so self-consciously clever that they irritated many a reader. From there he went on to heavier chronicles of Jewish family life. His twelfth novel shows a further development: The Dance Goes On is almost a pure adventure story. Critics were sure this was a comedown, but common readers felt it was a decided improvement.

The mother of Mr. Golding's new heroine, Irina, had been a dancer in the Imperial Russian Ballet. So had her mother before her. So naturally Irina was a dancer too. From the time she could toddle, Dancing-Master Borodin drilled and drove her, his heart set on making her a great ballerina. Irina had no time or strength left for thoughts about her own heart until, just as the time was drawing near for her debut, she met dour young Doctor Ivan. Ivan thought dancing and dancers ridiculous, but not Irina. They took each other so seriously that old Borodin had to order her back to her professional duty. Ivan was furious when she obeyed.

They did not meet again till Irina was famous and Ivan a hunted revolutionary. And they met only to quarrel. Then the Revolution broke and the tables turned. Now Ivan was a power and Irina a nobody, endangered. He saved her life but could not or would not keep her from prison. After an ingenious jail delivery engineered by her friends, when she was nearly at the Finnish border and safety, the two lovers met again. Whether neither or both or one crossed the border is a secret any adventure author would prefer readers to discover for themselves.

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