Daughter of the Swan — Joan Juliet Buck

This disappointingly executed novel deals with the empty, licentious lives of the well-to-do, one of whom is Florence Ellis, a young woman desperately awaiting the great love of her life. Tragedies, plus an unconventional upbringing, have increased Florence's need for affection and emotional stability. Her mother died in childbirth; her father, an antiquities dealer, has an openly homosexual lifestyle; Julia, Florence's cherished aunt, was killed in a car crash. In Paris, while restlessly anticipating her great romance, Florence is carelessly promiscuous until she meets enigmatic Felix Kulpar. Obsessed by the man, Florence hides his identity from her best friend, Sylvie. By an astounding coincidence, Sylvie also makes Felix's acquaintance and travels to Portofino with him, a development which so enrages Florence that she wishes him dead. When he does die in an accident, Florence succumbs to overwhelming remorse, attempts suicide and permanently renounces love. Living in New York years later, she encounters Sylvie, the jaded socialist who will unwittingly lead Florence to some shattering discoveries about the inscrutable man she adored. The cumbersome plot contains too many unbelievable twists, and Buck's numerous attempts at cryptic wit are weak and strained. Major ad/promo. (September 15)