What could be a more satisfying antidote for today's literary malaise than a lovingly executed Victorian novel of the London theatrical world in the Eighteen Eighties? A distant, gas-lit, perfect period it was, more antique and fustian for most of us than the Elizabethan. On deck to shape its historical personality were Ouida, Wilde, Henry James, George Moore, Gilbert & Sullivan…. The Impressionists were stirring and a fresh wind was blowing through the arts, but the decade must have seemed comfortably stable to most extant adults. In "Catherine Carter," the youngish, London-born author brilliantly reconstructs this time and mood, amply fulfilling the promise of "World's End," "The Trojan Brothers," and five or six lesser works which she has sent us since 1935. With her new novel, Miss Johnson has unmistakably arrived.

Remarkable for its poetic sweep and penetration, "Catherine Carter" unfolds most of its action at London's Belvedere Theatre, where...