As a story of high-keyed passion, "Promise of Love" is both complex and intense, yet it never loses touch with the solider kind of reality….

On a double count … "Promise of Love" strikes me as an unusually excellent first novel. There is a fusion here between background and personal drama, between inner and outer reality, which enriches and dignifies both. The story of Mic and Vivian would not be nearly so arresting as it is if one were not so sharply aware of the pressure of their environment. One sees them at work as well as in love—an important dualism which too many novelists neglect. When one adds to this that Mary Renault's style has a sure, fluid quality, that she possesses humor as well as sensitiveness, that even her minor characters are shrewdly drawn—the sum total is quite impressive. "Promise of Love" is a good...