"Promise of Love" [American title of "Purposes of Love"] is a first novel about first love, and possesses the rich, heady quality of the excitement of discovery of emotions and personalities…. With a fluid technique rare in a first novel, Miss Renault tells a story of emotional and psychological development which is engrossing because of, rather than in spite of, its familiarity.

In a twisted and tenuous way, "Promise of Love" holds the elements of a triangle. Jan Lingard, Vivian's brother, several years older than she, is a scientist at Cambridge…. The two are alike in many ways and it is not strange that Mic Freehold, warped by an unhappy childhood, should have his first emotions, snared for a while by Jan, deflected by Vivian. Here Miss Renault has handled an extremely difficult psychological situation with maturity and sensitive taste.

Though Jan is responsible for the attraction between...